4.5 hectare land on fire in Kotabaru

Kotabaru, South Kalimantan (AntaranewsKalsel) - An area of 4.5 hectares in the village of Tanjung Lalak Selatan, Kotabaru, South Kalimantan, burned.

Emergency Section Head of Kotabaru Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Syafarudin Syukur said on Saturday that the land fire on Friday (8/9) at 13.45 pm was in production forest area of PT Inhutani II Pulau Laut.

"The first source of information was from the tower monitor and Lapan Indonesia-satellite Aqua fire hot spot monitoring," he said.

Once checked, it was known that fire was burned piles of logs of former slash and felling for fields or plantation.

The handling of land fires was carried out by Fire Brigade of PT Inhutani II assisted by West Pulau Laut Sub-district Military Command (Koramil). Hot weather conditions with strong winds made it two hours more to handle the fire.

"Another obstacle is access to hotspots and piles of logs that take a long time to extinguish it," he added.

This land fire is suspected to be deliberate of the community who will open the land for farming or plantation. Then extended to the palm oil and rubber plantations.

"Unfortunately when the incident the suspect was not found," he said.

From this event, he emphasized the need for sustainable socialization to the surrounding community not to conduct land clearing by burning.

"In addition, patrols in fire prone areas also need to be improved," he said.