The Head Of Smoke Due To Forest And Land Fires In South Sumatra's OKI Drops Significantly

Smoke DOC due to forest and land fires in the Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Regency, South Sumatra Province. (ANTARA/Nova Wahyudi)

PALEMBANG - The South Sumatra Regional Police (Polda) dispatched a team to monitor the impact of forest and land fires in the Ogan Komering Ilir Regency on Friday.

Using a Dauphin AS365 N3 helicopter, the South Sumatra Police team led by the Head of the Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Resort Police AKBP Dili Yanto departed from Palembang City to the OKI region.

"From the city of Palembang to the Cengal area, passing through Tulung Selapan, Pampangan, Pangakalan Lampam, then heading to the Java Sea to Cengal," said AKBP Dili Yanto as reported by ANTARA, Friday, November 10.

The team then continued their patrols to East Pedamaran, Pedamaran, Kayu Agung, Jejawi, and Ogan Ilir and then returned to Palembang City.

"The smokefalling significantly in the OKI area, even three days ago the blue sky was very clear," he said after monitoring.

According to him, the smog has been running low thanks to efforts by the Forest and Land Fire Management Task Force which includes members of Manggala Agni and the police, TNI, and the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) in tackling forest and land fires.

In addition, the rain that has fallen since early November 2023 helped reduce the smog due to forest and land fires.

However, he was worried that the smoke would come again because it had been raining for three days and the hotspots had re-emerged in the OKI area.

"The area of Cengal, Pedamaran, Jungkal has returned to the hotspots," he said.

According to him, the three areas have peatlands with a depth of three to four meters and are overgrown with gem trees which if burned cause a lot of smoke.

Efforts to extinguish forest and land fires in the OKI area are sometimes hampered by terrain that is difficult to pass.

"To get to the location there is no access, it can't even be passed on foot because there are so many bushets," he said.

If needed, helicopters are operated to carry out water bombings in an effort to extinguish land fires in areas that are difficult to reach from land.

There are 53 police personnel working with about 150 members of Manggala Agni to tackle forest and land fires.

The South Sumatra Police rotates personnel once a week and periodically conducts health checks on personnel in charge of tackling forest and land fires.