South Sumatra Police Add 100 Personnel To Strengthen The Karhutla Task Force

South Sumatra Police personnel are strengthening the forest and land fires response task force. (ANTARA/Yudi Abdullah/23)

PALEMBANG - The South Sumatra Regional Police added 100 personnel from the Brimob and Samapta Units to strengthen 360 personnel who had previously been assigned with the Karhutla Management Task Force.

"The personnel are focused on preventing people from burning land in the Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Regency, which is an area prone to forest and land fires," said South Sumatra Police Chief Inspector General A Rachmad Wibowo in Palembang as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, October 3.

Through these countermeasures, it is hoped that forest and land fires in OKI Regency, which are quite large in the 2023 dry season, can be overcome immediately so that the level of air pollution can be reduced to a minimum.

"We are trying our best to help prevent and control forest and land fires through land and air patrols," said the South Sumatra Police Chief.

To overcome the problem of forest and land fires, South Sumatra Police Chief Inspector General A. Rachmad Wibowo together with Danrem 044/Gapo Brigadier General Moh Naudi Nurdika as Dansatgas for Combating Forest and Land Fires in South Sumatra Province, along with South Sumatra Deputy Chief of Police Brigadier General M.Zulkarnain and Danlanud SMH Kol Sigit Gatot Prasetyo held a coordination meeting at the Sri Mulyono Herlambang Air Base Disops Sri Mulyono Herlambang (SMH).

Meanwhile, the Commander of the South Sumatra Karhutla Task Force who is also Danrem 044/Gapo Brigadier General Moh Naudi Nurdika explained that the strategy for dealing with forest and land fires in South Sumatra involved 12 helicopters to support ground patrol officers who were difficult to reach the location of the fire.

The helicopters used to deal with forest and land fires consisted of five units of water bombing helicopters belonging to PT Sinarmas, four units of BNPB's 'water bombing' assisted in South Sumatra Province along with two patrol helicopters, as well as one unit of Baharkam Polri patrol helicopter.

The air operation to overcome forest and land fires is focused on carrying out extinguishing activities in Ogan Komering Ilir Regency.

"All air operations to deal with forest and land fires in one of the districts prone to forest and land fires are controlled by the Head of the Palembang Vocational High School Headquarters, Lt. Col. Lukman," said Kasatgas.