February 2023, 7 Forest Fires In West Kalimantan Occur Outside Plantation Land

PolNTIANAK - Polda Kalbar noted that there were seven cases of forest and land fires (karhutla) in West Kalimantan until February 2023, but none of the fire cases were found to have occurred on the plantation company's land. "The number of cases, so far we have not found any cases of forest and land fires," said Ditreskrimsus Polda Kalbar, Kombes Pol Luthfie Sulistiawan, after attending the Karhutla Coordination Meeting, quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, March 1. Luthfie assessed that the zero cases of forest and land fires in plantation companies in West Kalimantan until February 2023 were positive, because this shows that the company has tried to prevent the occurrence of such forest and land fires. "This shows that the company has the awareness to prevent forest and land fires," he said.

Meanwhile, the Governor of West Kalimantan, Sutarmidji assessed that the best handling of land fires was law enforcement. The 2019 fire was very high and almost everything happened in the plantation. "As soon as we give this sanction, until the revocation of the permit to court, 2020 it stopped. No (fire) was found in the plantation. The case continues to decline. We monitor hot spots every day through the Analytic Room (DAR) Data room at the West Kalimantan Governor's Office. From there, it will be seen which locations have hotspots and confidence levels," he explained.