Head Of BNPB Going Down The Mountain Handling Karhutla South Kalimantan

LHead Of BNPB Lt. Gen. Suharyanto//ANTARA/HO-BNPB

Head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Lt. Gen. Suharyanto, went down the mountain to support the efforts of the local government in controlling forest and land fires (karhutla) in South Kalimantan.

Suharyanto said the location of the hotspots still burned land in three areas, namely Banjar, Banjarbaru and Tanah Lau, not far from the Syamsudin Noor airport area, even according to the helicopter altimeter navigation tool, the distance of this hotspot is not less than two miles from the airport.

It was this fire in the ring of one airport that later became the culprit for flight traffic a few days ago.

"Information from Danlanud, this smoke has hampered the flight schedule. The airport in Banjarbaru is close to forest fires and peatlands," said Suharyanto while monitoring as reported by ANTARA, Friday, September 22.

After conducting the review, the Head of BNPB launched to the South Kalimantan Governor's office to chair a coordination meeting.

Suharyanto said the Central Government paid high attention to South Kalimantan. This is because Bumi Lambung Mangkurat is one of six other provinces that own peatlands and is a priority for forest and land fires.

The six priority provinces are Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan.

"Because there is peatland there," said Suharyanto.

Suharyanto said South Kalimantan had become the third stage that Suharyanto had visited, from six areas that were emergency priority for forest and land fires according to President Joko Widodo's direction.

There are still three other areas that must also get extra attention from the Central Government, namely Jambi, Riau and Central Kalimantan.

This visit to the Kalimantan region for handling forest and land fires was also carried out by Suharyanto the day before, namely in West Kalimantan on Wednesday (20/9).

As for a series of visits to other areas for forest and land fires that hit peat areas, Suharyanto had previously carried out in South Sumatra.

Suharyanto's presence in South Kalimantan to support the handling of forest and land fires is the second time. Previously, the former Pangdam V Brawijaya had been present in South Kalimantan on July 23, 2023, when cases of forest and land fires were still low.