Karhutla Hanguskan 10 Hectares Of Land At OKU South Sumatra

The OKU BPBD Karhutla Task Force Team extinguished the fire of forest and land fires in Tanjung Kemala Village, Saturday. (ANTARA/Edo Purmana/23)

BATURAJA - The forest and land fires (karhutla) scorched 10 hectares of land in Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU) Regency, South Sumatra which was allegedly caused by cigarette butts dumped by residents on dry land.

Manager of the OKU Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Gunalfi said the incident occurred in Tanjung Kemala Village, East Baturaja District.

"It happened this afternoon at around 11.00 WIB," he said, quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, October 7.

In extinguishing the fire, his party deployed dozens of personnel and a tank car to extinguish the fire so that it would not spread widely, causing a smog disaster.

It's just that, he said, in carrying out the process of extinguishing the fire, his party was constrained by road access to the location of the fire which was difficult for four-wheeled vehicles to pass.

"In addition, the river water discharge which is currently starting to dry due to the long dry season makes it difficult for officers to supply water to tank cars to extinguish the fire," he said.

"River water around the location of the fire began to be shallow so we looked for water sources in other villages that were quite far away so that the fire could only be extinguished a few hours after the officers struggled," he explained.

Currently, the Karhutla Task Force Team in the field is still carrying out a cooling process to anticipate the emergence of new hotspots that have the potential to cause forest and land fires.

"Personnel in the field are still on standby at the location of the fire to carry out the cooling process to ensure the fire is completely extinguished," he said.