5 Hectares Of Land In Aceh Burned In The Middle Of The Dry Season

PHOTO VIA BETWEEN

BANDA ACEH - Forest and land fires (karhutla) occurred in Aceh which scorched about five hectares of land in the Padang Sakti Village, Muara Satu District, Lhokseumawe City.

"The final condition of the fire has not been extinguished," said Head of the Aceh Disaster Management Agency (BPBA) Ilyas, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, June 22.

Ilyas through the Aceh Data and Information Center (Pusdatin) explained that the land fire occurred on Wednesday around 15.30 WIB. The cause of the fire is still under investigation by officials.

When receiving information on land fires, said Ilyas, the Lhokseumawe BPBD immediately dispatched a fire fighting vehicle (damkar) to the scene to extinguish it.

So far, the firefighters have not been able to extinguish the fire that has spread to other areas.

"Temporary data the area of land burned is approximately five hectares. There were no casualties in this incident," said Ilyas.

Meanwhile, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said that Aceh is currently entering the dry season, so residents are asked not to clear land by burning.

"Currently Aceh has entered the dry season, we urge the public not to clear land by burning," said BMKG Class I Data and Information Coordinator Sultan Iskandar Muda Aceh Besar Zakaria Ahmad.

According to Zakaria, the dry season is expected to last until September 2022. However, this condition does not rule out the possibility of rain, because currently it is a wet dry season.

The community is asked to be aware of forest and land fires, especially in the south-west region of Aceh, which has the most peatlands so that it is very easy to burn when there are triggers such as hot spots.

"The potential for forest and land fires in the south west of Aceh is at a level of alert or moderate, because in this area, besides a lot of peat forest, it also rains lightly and is cloudy," he said.