Hot Spots Appear, Central Kalimantan Stands Up to Anticipate Forest Fires

JAKARTA - All district governments and cities of Central Kalimantan are on standby to anticipate the impact of forest and land fires following land fires in several areas in their area.

The Central Kalimantan Province Disaster Management and Fire Department stated that based on reports from district and city governments until February 9, 2023, 38 forest and land fires had occurred in the Central Kalimantan Province.

"In early 2023, hotspots have appeared in several areas and there have been fires even though they are still on a small scale", said the Head of the Central Kalimantan Disaster Management and Fire Service Agency, Falery Tuwan, in Palangka Raya City, quoting Antara on Sunday, February 12.

Forest and land fires have occurred in South Barito (4), North Barito (9), Katingan (2), Palangka Raya (2), West Kotawaringin (6), East Kotawaringin (10), Lamandau (1), and Sukamara (5).

"Regarding this, we ask districts/cities to prepare and take preventive measures", said Falery.

He said that relevant stakeholders in regencies and cities, including the Regional Disaster Management Agency, TNI and Polri, must be prepared to carry out efforts to prevent and control forest and land fires.

According to him, district and city governments need to increase routine patrols in vulnerable areas and prepare human resources and supporting infrastructure for efforts to prevent and control forest and land fires.

District and city governments, he continued, should also activate counselling to increase citizen awareness of helping prevent forest and land fires.