OKU BPBD Puts Out Forest And Land Fires In Sekarjaya OKU South Sumatra

The Karhutla Task Force Team extinguished a land fire in OKU Regency, Monday (13/11/2023). ANTARA/Edo Purmana

BATURAJA - Personnel from the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU) Regency, South Sumatra extinguished the forest and land fires (karhutla) that occurred in vacant areas of Sekarjaya Village.

"The forest and land fires incident occurred this afternoon at around 17.30 WIB," said Manager of the OKU BPBD Pusdalops Gunalfi as reported by ANTARA, Monday, November 13.

He explained that it was suspected that the fire came from cigarette butts that were dumped by residents carelessly on dry land that was flammable, triggering the flames.

Luckily, thanks to the alertness of officers in the fire field, it was quickly extinguished so that it did not spread widely to residential areas around the location.

"After struggling for about an hour, the fire was finally extinguished. Currently, it is still in the cooling process," he said.

In extinguishing the fire, the OKU Regency Karhutla Task Force Team deployed a water tanker to extinguish the blaze at the scene.

"There were about half a hectare of burned land, but it did not cause the impact of the smog," he said.

According to him, the forest and land fires incident in the area is currently much reduced since the OKU Regency was rained until many hotspots were extinguished.

Based on data, heavy rains that occurred in mid-October 2023 had extinguished as many as 110 forest and land fire spots spread across several sub-districts in the area.

"Hopefully the rain will rain again in OKU Regency so that our area is completely free from forest and land fires," he hoped.