BNPB: South Sumatra Karhutla Smoke Controlled

Photos of the fire burning peatlands in Pedamaran, Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI), South Sumatra, Monday (18/9/2023) BETWEEN PHOTOS/Nova Wahyudi/rwa.

Head of the Center for Disaster Data, Information and Communication of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Abdul Muhari stated that the coverage of forest and land fires (karhutla) in South Sumatra could be controlled.

Abdul said that on September 4, 2023, forest and land fires had spread to Jambi.

Therefore, foreign media was worried about the existence of a border haze, or the spread of smog to neighboring countries.

However, in the following days, the spread of smoke can be controlled, although there is still an expansion of forest and land fires based on monitoring until September 10.

"There is an amateur video that says the Musi River Bridge can no longer be seen from across the river and the thickness of the smog is true. But the next day it will be under control," said Abdul, quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, September 19.

He emphasized that the forest and land fires incident in the six priority provinces for handling the government cannot be suppressed to zero, because of the difficulty of monitoring and covering a large area.

However, it is hoped that the local government can really optimize the existence of the air task force and task force that is already supported by the BNPB and the deployment of patrol helicopters and water bomb helicopters for immediate quick reaction.

"So if there is a hotspot we must be able to extinguish it before the escalation occurs. Earlier, what I said was that El Nino was not the dry season that caused the fire, which would definitely cause humans, but the dry conditions would accelerate the escalation," he said.

According to him, if the forest and land fires are under control, the fire can be extinguished immediately so that the duration of the fire is short, the coverage of the burned area is also mentioned as small.