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South Sumatra declares alert status over forest, land fires
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Murky ride: A motorcyclist braves thick haze from forest fires on Oct. 7, 2023 as he rides along Jl. Pendidikan in Jakabaring, in South Sumatra’s provincial capital Palembang.
(Antara/Nova Wahyudi)
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number of South Sumatra regencies have been put on siaga (alert) status, the second-highest level of the country’s four-tiered alert system, for land and forest fires ahead of the peak of the dry season.
Three regencies, namely Banyuasin, Musi Banyuasin and Ogan Komering Ilir, have imposed the emergency alert status from June until at least November.
“This is a part of the efforts to mitigate forest and land fires, given that the three regions are vulnerable,” said a top official at the South Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Sudirman, on Tuesday, as quoted by Kompas.com.
He added that nine other regencies were also included among the most vulnerable areas and might be put on emergency alert status in the foreseeable future.
According to data from the Environment and Forestry Ministry, up to 132,000 hectares in South Sumatra was affected by land and forest fires last year. Within the past decade, the worst situation was recorded in 2015, when more than 646,000 ha of forest was burned down.
To prevent these conditions from recurring, South Sumatra BPBD has requested the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to send eight helicopters to the province.
“[Two] helicopters will be used to patrol the area to look for hot spots, [while the other six helicopters] will be used for water bombing to extinguish fires in hard-to-reach spots,” Sudirman added.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicted previously that the peak of this year's dry season would occur between July and August. (alf)
