West Kalimantan - The West Kalimantan Provincial Government together with the West Kalimantan Regional Police have increased monitoring of forest and land fires (karhutla) and have prepared the establishment of an emergency standby status as an anticipation of the potential for smog in the peatland-dominated area.
"When it comes to smoke, we have taken preventive measures. Monitoring is carried out directly in the field, including using drones. So far, there has been no evidence of intentional burning," said Kapolda Kalbar Irjen Pipit Rismanto as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, January 28.
He said prevention efforts continued through land patrols, aerial monitoring, and the use of drones to detect hot spots early.
Pipit explained that West Kalimantan has about 2.8 million hectares of peatland with varying depths, ranging from shallow to very deep. Peat with extreme depth has the potential to be easily flammable when it does not rain for several days.
"For deep peat, if it doesn't rain for a week, the heat can trigger a fire itself. This is a challenge because the fire can appear from below the surface," he said.
However, he emphasized that land clearing by burning must still follow strict rules and be supervised together so that it does not spread.
"We must coordinate to keep the fire from spreading. The smoke points that appear today are mostly in the peat in which they are prone every year," he said.
Meanwhile, the Governor of West Kalimantan, Ria Norsan, said the provincial government together with districts/cities was preparing to determine the emergency standby status so that the handling would be more coordinated and receive support from the central government.
"The emergency standby status is important so that the central government knows our condition and can help with the needs of handling, including support for facilities and technology," said Norsan.
According to him, one of the efforts that proved effective in the previous year was weather modification to trigger artificial rain to reduce the potential for fires and smog.
"Last year, weather modification was quite effective in reducing the impact of smoke. It will be an option if the situation worsens," he said.
Norsan added that the local government also anticipates social impacts, including the potential for public health disorders and educational activities, as was the case when the smog forced residents and students to be evacuated.
The Provincial Government together with the TNI-Polri, BPBD, and related institutions continue to strengthen integrated patrols, early detection of hot spots, and education to the public not to open land in a risky way.
"This step is expected to reduce the potential for forest fires while preventing the recurrence of the haze disaster that disrupts the health and activities of the community in West Kalimantan," said Norsan.
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