Bengkulu Experienced 59 Forest And Land Fire Incidents, 54 Firefighters Alerted At Vulnerable Points

Illustration of firefighters-TNI officers extinguishing the fire. (doc tni.mil.id)

JAKARTA - A total of 54 firefighters (Damkar) personnel were alerted in 9 sub-districts of Bengkulu City. They were deployed to anticipate forest and land fires (karhutla). "Damkar Bengkulu City is currently on standby and has joined the forest and land fire task force chaired by the head of BPBD. From the Damkar, in the face of extreme weather we have alerted personnel in nine sub-districts," Head of the Bengkulu City Fire Department Yuliansyah in Bengkulu City, Wednesday, September 13, confiscated by Antara.

Yuliansyah explained that the effort was carried out because 59 forest and land fires had occurred in Bengkulu since the dry dry dry dry season occurred in 2023. In addition, forest and land fires were also triggered by residents who deliberately burned land or forests.

Dozens of Bengkulu City Firefighters were alerted at locations prone to forest and land fires, such as at golf courses, Panjang Beach areas, Nature Tourism Parks in the Black River, residents' lands in the Betungan area and the Sebakul Water area. "If there is a nearby water source, we will use floating engine equipment, we have a floating engine unit. Indeed, since the dry season in January, there have been 40 land fires. Since the formation of the Karhutla team there have been 19 cases, but what is very prominent is five points," he said.

Yuliansyah also appealed to the public not to burn land and forests and his party would continue to carry out inherent surveillance at points that are really prone to fires. Meanwhile, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Fatmawati Soekarno Bengkulu Meteorological Station detected as many as 26 hotspots that could potentially occur in forest and land fires spread across Bengkulu Province. "From satellite monitoring, there is a hot spot showing a yellow color which means it has a moderate level of fire, however, it is hoped that residents will always be alert," said BMKG forecaster Fatmawati Soekarno Bengkulu Muhammad Fajar. For the 26 hot spots detected, they are located in a number of areas such as in Lebong Regency, Central Bengkulu Regency, Seluma Regency and North Bengkulu Regency. A number of these areas have the potential for land forest fires due to coastal areas where oil palm plantation land is located. With the absence of rainfall in the last few weeks in Bengkulu, the number of hot spots in the area has caused the potential for forest fires to occur.