BPBD Puts Out 1 Hectare Forest And Land Fires In Membalong Belitung, The Cause Is Not Known

JAKARTA - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) finally extinguished a 1 hectare land fire in Bantan Village, Membalong District, Belitung Regency in Bangka Belitung Islands Province (Babel).

"The Belitung BPBD Fire Team managed to extinguish the fire, but we don't know the cause of the fire yet," said the Head of BPBD Belitung, Agus Supriadi in Tanjungpandan, Wednesday, July 30, as reported by Antara.

According to him, the land fire incident in Bantan Village, Membalong District occurred on Tuesday at 12.30 WIB to 14.30 WIB in the midst of hot and windy conditions.

Agus said that previously, the Belitung BPBD Damkar team received reports of land fires at the location from a local resident.

"After receiving a report from the team from the Belitung BPBD fire post unit, they went straight to the fire site to extinguish the fire by taking about 20 minutes to arrive at the location of the hotspot," he said.

Arriving at the location of the hotspots, Agus continued, a team from the Belitung BPBD Damkar immediately rushed to extinguish the fire. "The area of the land burned is approximately one hectare," he said.

The fire that scorched the land was finally extinguished for about 1.5 hours. This time is also used for cooling to ensure the condition of the fire has been completely extinguished.

"Because to extinguish the land fire, we have to work extra hard, because from above the surface the fire looks extinguished, but under the bushes there are usually fire coal and if it is exposed to the wind it can get bigger," he said.

BPBD Belitung appealed to the public to be aware of the potential threat of forest and land fires in the area because it has now entered the phase of the transition from the rainy to dry season.

"We urge the public not to open land for the garden by burning it and then we also urge the public not to throw cigarette butts in dried weeds and burn garbage without supervision," he said.