BPBD Tapin Berjibaku Puts Out The Cabai Hiyung Karhutla Ready To Harvest

The forest and land fires (Karhutla) that hit the Cabai Rawit Hiyung garden in Hiyung Village, Tapin Regency, South Kalimantan, Friday (15/9/2023). (ANTARA/M Fazi Fadilah)

Tapin - Officers from the Tapin Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) and volunteers from the Fire Department (BPK) of Tapin Regency, South Kalimantan are working hard to extinguish the forest and land fires (karhutla) that hit the cayenne pepper hiyung garden ready for harvest in Hiyung Village.

"There are more than two thousand, maybe more, while we are still collecting data," said Head of Emergency and Logistics Division of BPBD Tapin Sofyan in Hiyung Village, Tapin, as reported by ANTARA, Friday, September 15.

Currently, Sofyan said, the joint officers are still struggling to extinguish the source of the fire at the scene with an estimated that thousands of chili sticks in Indonesia were completely affected.

"The fire started at around 14.00 WITA," said Sofyan.

Meanwhile, a resident of Hiyung Village RT04 Tapin, Ardiansyah (60) admitted that he and his family had tried to extinguish the fire using a grass spray.

"There were 4,000 tree trunks that caught fire," said Ardiansyah.

Ardiansyah estimates that his 4,000 chili hiyung trees will also catch fire with a loss value of around Rp. 100 million.

"We hope that after this disaster there will be assistance from the government," said Ardiansyah.

According to ANTARA's observations at the location, joint officers worked hard to extinguish the visible fire which was still rising high at several points.

Officers could not reach all the hotspots that were widespread in the Hiyung Village area, so the source of the fire spread to the bush and cayenne pepper hiyung land.

In addition, officers were also constrained by minimal water sources and strong winds.

This cayenne pepper is a variety of local plants typical of Hiyung Village, Tapin Regency which grows on lebak swampland. This chili has been recognized as special, because it is a broken chili in Indonesia with a steepness rate of 17 times compared to ordinary chilies.