Governor Of South Kalimantan: Beware Of Forest And Land Fires In Villages During Long Drought

South Kalimantan Governor Sahbirin Noor (left)/ANTARA/HO-BPBD South Kalimantan

BANJARBARU - Governor of South Kalimantan (Kalsel) Sahbirin Noor asked the people in the village to be aware of the dangers and potential incidents of forest and land fires (karhutla) during the long dry season which was predicted until September 2023.

This is related to an official forecast from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) which states that the South Kalimantan region will enter a long dry season in the next few months.

"People in villages have a strategic role to prevent forest and land fires," said Sahbirin Noor during a visit to the Village (Turdes) in Tapin Regency, reported by ANTARA, Friday, August 4.

Sahbirin appealed to the people in the village to immediately make initial efforts to extinguish the fire when there were hotspots on land and forests.

"Immediately contact the nearest officer if the hotspots are difficult to control," he said.

He said that each region in South Kalimantan has formed a Karhutla task force (Satgas) which is ready within 1x24 hours to extinguish the fire.

He conveyed that tackling forest and land fires is a shared responsibility so that all parties must work together to overcome the impact of drought due to extreme hot weather in South Kalimantan.

Sahbirin hopes that in the area there will be no more forest and land fires, based on data from the South Kalimantan Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), there are quite a number of hotspots.

On the second day of the Turdes activity, Sahbirin symbolically handed over the assistance of basic materials for controlling inflation and stunting including disaster assistance from the South Kalimantan BPBD to local residents at SMAN 1 Tapin Tengah.

The South Kalimantan BPBD Education and Information Communication Team (KIE) also provides education on the bad effects of forest and land fires along with prevention and control measures in the form of simulations and training.

Meanwhile, the Head of Central Tapin, Hamzah, said that the visit of the Governor of South Kalimantan played an important role in preventing forest and land fires for the people of Tapin Regency, especially in villages.

"Education activities of forest and land fires have great benefits for the people in the village," said Hamzah.