High Potential Of Forest And Land Fires In Syamsudin Noor Airport Area, South Kalimantan BPBD Implements Guard For Almost 24 Hours

Karhutla is about 1 kilometer from the Syamsudin Noor Airport area, Banjarbaru City, South Kalimantan on June 3, 2023. (Between-Tumpal A A A)

SOUTH KALIMANTAN - BPBD South Kalimantan (Kalsel) has increased supervision of the potential for forest and land fires (karhutla) in the Syamsudin Noor Airport area, Banjarbaru City.

South Kalimantan BPBD Operations Control Center (Pusdalops) manager Ricky Ferdyanto said the priority of supervision is considering that entering the dry season and the airport area in South Kalimantan is prone to forest and land fires.

"For priority areas, such as Banjarbaru City, irrigation canals are opened for the discussion of peatlands in Ring 1 (fire-prone areas), the area around the airport," he said in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, Monday, June 5, which was confiscated by Antara.

He said the peatlands in the Ring 1 area are about 5 kilometers from Syamsudin Noor Airport.

The area, he continued, continues to be monitored regularly. Ricky said that his party was implementing security by placing officers from 08.00 to 18.00 WITA. At night, his party is guarding the South Kalimantan BPBD Main Command Post.

Ricky said the South Kalimantan BPBD task force team today patrolled three locations, namely Lake Cermin, Liang Anggang, and Mount Kupang.

Karhutla in South Kalimantan in the last 1 month, he continued, has hit forests and land with an estimated area of up to 80 hectares.

He mentioned forest fires of about 9 hectares and land fires of about 71 hectares. The largest in Tanah Laut Regency is about 39 hectares

The second largest fire in Banjarbaru City was around 31 hectares, then the third largest in Banjar Regency reached 9 hectares. Meanwhile, in other areas, the area of burned land did not exceed 1 hectare.

Previously, Ricky said that the largest area hit by forest and land fires was in Ring 1, namely in the Syamsudin Noor Airport area, Banjarbaru City.

According to Ricky, the situation in the field in Tanah Laut Regency is more difficult. If a fire occurs, it usually takes a relatively long time than other regions.

Regarding the obstacles in handling forest and land fires in Tanah Laut Regency, the South Kalimantan BPBD is waiting for the results of the application for assistance in the form of water bombing helicopters from the Central BNPB.

It was also said that the helicopter was a solution for handling fires in areas where the route was difficult to pass.