South Sumatra Getting Hotter Mid-2023, BNPB Prepares Water Bombing Helicopters To Prevent Forest And Land Fires

Illustration of forest and land fires extinguishing using helicopters. (Between-Mushaful)

JAKARTA - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has alerted water bombing helicopters to anticipate forest and land fires (karhutla) in South Sumatra Province (Sumsel).

"In the middle of 2023, the weather will be hotter than in previous years, there will be more drought than in the last two years, so the potential for forest and land fires is quite high," said BNPB Head Lt. Gen. Suharyanto while leading the 'Coordination Meeting of the South Sumatra Province Karhutla Task Force' from Jakarta, Thursday, June 22, was confiscated by Antara.

Suharyanto added that this effort was in line with the direction given by President Jokowi which stated that the government must prioritize prevention efforts, then enforce the law without tolerance in overcoming the forest and land fires disaster.

"Because the potential for forest and land fires this year is quite high, BNPB then sets an emergency status for forest and land fires, one of which is in South Sumatra," he said.

This is the reason why BNPB prepared six water bombing helicopters, one aircraft, and one air patrol helicopter to support the handling of forest and land fires. In addition, BNPB together with several other institutions also carried out Weather Modification Technology (TMC).

"With the presence of TMC, it is hoped that it will rain to fill the reservoirs or water reservoirs so that ground troops can easily extinguish the fire. TMC is very effective in wetting the land to prevent forest and land fires, of course it is done when there are rain clouds like now," said Suharyanto.

In addition to air operations support, BNPB also sent support for land operations handling forest and land fires in the form of 11 main pumps, 22 medium pumps for 6 HP units, 1.5 gaps for 132 units, 2.5 hoses for 99 units, 1.5 nozels as many as 88 units, Y connectors 2.5 to 1.5 as many as 22 units, Y connectors 1.5 to 1.5 as many as 66 units.

Other aids distributed were 220 packages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and 5,000 liters of flexible tanks as many as 11 units.

Suharyanto hopes that the handling of forest and land fires in South Sumatra can run effectively and optimally. He also emphasized that forest and land fires must be the concern of all parties.

"Don't wait for the big fire to be extinguished immediately, because air operations will be in vain when the fire is big. I hope that by 2023 forest and land fires can be completely under control," he said.