Peat Land Covering An Area Of 5 Hectares In Belitung Burns

The peatlands in Belitung caught fire (ANTARA/Kasmono-Apriliansyah)

Five hectares of peat land in Keciput Village, Sijuk District, Belitung Regency, Bangka Belitung Islands Province (Babel), was burned to the ground. The Chief Executive of the Belitung BPBD, Agus Supriadi, said that the burning of the five-hectare peatland was one of the biggest land fires. "This peatland fire can be categorized as the largest land fire that has occurred in the last few days," he said in Tanjung Pandan, as reported by Antara, Thursday, August 31. The Fire Brigade Team (Damkar) and the Belitung BPBD's quick reaction received a report from a member of the Sijuk Police, who said that there had been a fire at the location on Wednesday at around 13.40 WIB. His party then deployed a number of fleets and personnel to extinguish the fire. "The Belitung BPBD Damkar Team arrived at the scene of the fire at 14.00 WIB and immediately extinguished it," he said. Arriving at the location, he said, the fire had grown and spread rapidly because the condition of the burned land was peat and dry weeds. This condition is also exacerbated by the strong wind at the scene of the fire. "His condition is indeed thick shaking, the conditions for extinguishing the fire are also difficult because the fire has entered the peatland," he said. The Belitung BPBD Damkar Team managed to extinguish the fire at 20.10 WIB or approximately for six hours. "At 20.10 WIB we managed to extinguish the fire and it was declared green," he said. Until now, Agus continued, the exact cause of the peatland fire is not yet known.

He appealed to the public not to open land for gardening or farming by burning because it was feared that it would trigger forest and land fires. "In addition, if you know about the fire incident, immediately report it to the Belitung BPBD Fire Department so that the fire can be handled immediately," he said.