Forest And Land Fires In Kalseel Reach 1,437 Hectares

Children crossed the road with conditions surrounded by smoke fog around the forest and land fires incident in Landasan Ulin Selatan Village, Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, Monday (14/8/2023). ANTARA/Tumpal Andani Aritonang

BANJARBARU - The South Kalimantan Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Kalsel) reported that the forest and land fires (karhutla) were around 1,437.6 hectares with a total of 4,543 hot sources in 13 districts and cities.

Based on data compiled by the Disaster Management Operations Control Center (Pusdalops PB) of South Kalimantan BPBD as of Sunday (13/8) at 22:42 WITA, three regions continued to dominate forest and land fires sequentially, including Banjarbaru City 554.81 hectares, Tanah Laut Regency 348.63 hectares, Banjar Regency 269.55 hectares.

"The city of Banjarbaru does not dominate the number of hotspots, but forest and land fires events are quite rampant," said Head of South Kalimantan BPBD Raden Suria Fadliansyah as reported by ANTARA, Monday, August 14.

Suria said that in the recorded data, Banjarmasin City became a minimal forest and land fires area, which was around one hectare with a minimum number of hot sources, namely six hotspots.

The South Kalimantan BPBD together with a joint team have handled 529 forest and land fires locations, including 24 forest fires with an area of 96.7 hectares, while 505 land fires reached around 1,340.86 hectares.

The forest and land fires response did not include the incident on Monday afternoon until evening.

On Monday, August 14, there were six locations of forest and land fires in Banjarbaru City, which were handled by joint officers in areas that were quite well known to the people of Banjarbaru City, including Cempaka, Banjarbaru Prison, Pengayuan, Guntung Damar, Pandahan, and Tambak Tarap.

As of 21.55 WITA, joint officers were still extinguishing the forest and land fires at several locations in the capital city of South Kalimantan.

Meanwhile, the Coordinator of Volunteers for the Karhutla Task Force for the South Kalimantan BPBD, Mansyah, said that the hotspot had grown at around 15.00 WITA.

"About 200 joint officers are struggling to overcome forest and land fires from day to night," said Mansyah.