West Manggarai Red Zone Of Forest And Land Fires, BMKG Reminds Residents To Increase Vigilance

Illustration of extinguishing forest and land fires or forest and land fires. (Between)

JAKARTA - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) appealed to the people of West Manggarai to be aware of the potential for forest and land fires (karhutla) in the midst of the dry dry dry dry dry season today.

"Be aware of forest and land fires for the entire West Manggarai area," said Head of the Meteorological Station of Komodo Labuan Bajo Meteorological Station, Sti Nenotek in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Monday, September 4, which was confiscated by Antara.

Sti explained that forest and land fires are the impact of drought in the dry season.

He said the active phenomenon of El Nino caused the dry season in 2023 to become drier than the last three years.

"So it is very vulnerable to forest and land fires," he said.

Based on the level of ease of fire spread in NTT, the West Manggarai area is included in the "red" zone, which means that the fire spreads very quickly.

Therefore, BMKG asks the public not to burn garbage carelessly, including the activity of clearing plantation land.

The behavior of people who throw cigarette butts carelessly is also still a note and attention from the BMKG.

"The existence of this strong wind can exacerbate the spread of fire quickly," he said.

Furthermore, he explained that coordination had been carried out with stakeholders to disseminate information about the threat of forest and land fires.

Similar information can also be accessed independently by the public from the BMKG official account.

He hopes that the community can take appropriate independent steps to be aware of the threat of forest and land fires in their respective areas.