2 Regencies In South Sumatra Red Zone Of Forest And Land Fires, BPBD: Due To Experiencing More Than 30 Incidents

Simulation of forest and land fires (karhutla) extinguishing on Mahir Mahar Street, Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, Wednesday 26 April 2023. (ANTARA-Makna Zaezar)

JAKARTA - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of South Sumatra Province (Sumsel) said that Ogan Ilir and Musi Banyuasin regencies were included in the red zone category of forest and land fires (karhutla).

The Head of Emergency Handling of the South Sumatra BPBD, Sudirman, said that for Ogan Ilir Regency there were 73 forest and land fires incidents. Meanwhile, Musi Banyuasin Regency has 31 forest and land fires.

"The status of the red zone of forest and land fires is now in Ogan Ilir and Musi Banyuasin. These two areas are due to cases of forest and land fires of more than 30 incidents," he said in Palembang, Friday, which was confiscated by Antara.

Then, he continued, the areas that entered the orange zone were Banyuasin with 21 incidents, Ogan Komering Ilir 20 incidents, and Muara Enim 24 incidents.

Then the yellow zone was Penukal Abab Lematang Ilir (PALI) 15 incidents, Musi Rawasa 5 incidents, Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU) Timur, Palembang, Empat Lawang, and Prabumulih 2 incidents each, and Lahat, Lubuklinggau, and Musi Rawas Utara one incident.

'A total of 14 areas in South Sumatra have occurred because of forest and land fires. The remaining three areas are included in the green zone, namely South OKU, Pagar Alam, and OKU," he explained.

The South Sumatra BPBD noted that the number of forest and land fires events continued to increase in the period January 1-12 August with the number of forest and land fires cases having reached 200 incidents.

For the control of forest and land fires, his party has wetted land in several peat areas with the Weather Modification Operation (OMC) which has also been carried out for two periods, namely first on 13-18 July 2025 and the second period from 29 July to 2 August 2025.

In addition, he said, there is daily monitoring of areas prone to forest and land fires by BPBDs in various local areas.