Army Chief Of Staff Reviews TNI Readiness To Help Put Out Forest And Land Fires In South Sumatra

Army Chief of Staff General TNI Dudung Abdurrahman (right) together with the Governor of South Sumatra Herman Deru (left) aat visited the hotspots at the South Sumatra BPBD office, Friday (8/9/2023). (ANTARA/Ahmad Rafli Baiduri)

SOUTH SUMATRA - Army Chief of Staff (KSAD) General TNI Dudung Abdurrahman inspected the handling of forest and land fires (karhutla) in the South Sumatra (Sumsel) region.

"On this visit, I would like to review the readiness of TNI soldiers and the police as well as other supporting elements, in handling forest and land fires in South Sumatra," said TNI General Dudung in Palembang, Friday, September 8, which was confiscated by Antara.

Not only that, he continued, his party together with the Governor of South Sumatra held a meeting to discuss anticipatory and karhutla measures.

He explained, based on air and land monitoring carried out today, the number of hotspots or hotspots is 27 points for the South Sumatra region.

However, the hotspots do not necessarily show a fire. Because there are several other factors where this hotspot arises, namely coming from a coal and palm oil factory, hot steam from the river, and smoke from the vehicle," he said.

According to him, the equipment in supporting the handling of forest and land fires in South Sumatra is quite good.

"However, there are several things that need to be improved, that during this hot spot review it is difficult to reach, because there is no road access, therefore effective steps in the review use the aircraft," he said.

In addition, he appreciated the forest and land fires task force in South Sumatra because it was fast and responsive in the event of a land fire.

Saat terjadi kebakaran lahan, para satgas langsung membentuk posko di dekat lokasi. Untuk wilayah Sumsel kebakaran itu banyak terjadi pada lahan gambut, akan tetapi para satgas ini tidak memadamkan api, tetapi setelah pemadam mereka juga melakukan sputteran ke dalam tanah guna memastikan tidak api tidak muncul lagi," ucapnya.

Kemudian, pihak aparat kepolisian juga tegas memberikan hukuman terhadap beberapa orang yang sengaja membuka lahan dengan cara terbakar.

"The steps that have been taken are good enough, so it is hoped that forest and land fires in South Sumatra will not be repeated as in 2015 and 2019 which are indeed quite large," he concluded.