BPBD Berjibaku Puts Out Forest And Land Fires In Kubu Raya West Kalimantan Near Settlements

BPBD together with other stakeholders are trying to extinguish the forest and land fires that are approaching residential areas in Kubu Raya, West Kalimantan (Antara/HO)

The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Kubu Raya Regency, West Kalimantan together with a number of parties have extinguished forest and land fires (karhutla) which have begun to approach residential areas in Sungai Raya, Kapap, and Rasau Jaya sub-districts.

"Until this afternoon we have continued to struggle with fellow private firefighters, Manggala Agni, and the TNI/Polri, a total of around 30-40 personnel," said Head of BPBD Kubu Raya Herry Purwoko on Sungai Raya, Wednesday.

He said the sub-districts that were still hit by forest and land fires were Sungai Raya, Sungai Kakap, and Rasau Jaya. In Sungai Raya, forest and land fires are increasingly approaching the Kopri and Punggur Kecil housing complexes.

"We have difficulty with water because the source is limited, so we take advantage of assistance from private firefighters who have water reservoir cars," he said.

Until now, his party has not been able to calculate the area of the land burned due to forest and land fires. Moreover, the strong winds and dry soil make forest and land spread faster.

"We are still focused on extinguishing the fire that is approaching local residents' housing," he said.

Sungai Raya Police Chief AKP Hariyanto estimates that more than 10 hectares of land forest areas have been burned as of Tuesday (29/10) in Sungai Raya Dalam. A number of hot spots were in the Korpri Sungai Dalam housing estate, Jalan Parit Tanggok Gang Nur, Permata Adinda 1 Complex, Permata Adinda 2, Fajar Asri and RBK 5. This forest and land fires are predicted to be due to dry peatlands and hot burning.

Based on data from the Class I Meteorological Station Supadio, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) of West Kalimantan, there were 25 hotspots on Wednesday.

The hotspots included seven points in Sambas, Sintang, North Kayong, and Melawi, one point each, five points in Kubu Raya, eight points in Ketapang, and two points in Pontianak.