Many fires difficult to reach by South Kalimantan Ground Task Force

BNPB helicopters water bombing to extinguish a land fire in the Barito Kuala District area. (ANTARA/BNPB)

As soon as the hotspot appeared, members rushed to the location so the fire did not spread. The problem was that sometimes the location could not be penetrated by land route, while helicopters need more time to extinguish,

Banjarbaru, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Forest and land fire in South Kalimantan have continued to occur in the past week, but officers have had difficulty to put out them as the hotspots were hard to be reached by the Ground Task Force.

"Most of the fires lately are difficult to reach, so we rely on water bombing helicopter," said the South Kalimantan Police's Ground Task Force Commander Sr Comr Ronny Suseno in Banjarbaru, Saturday.

Empty land overgrown with grass and small trees were mostly caught fire, he said.

Ronny affirmed that the Ground Task Force personnel are standby for 24 hours at the command posts. Their alertness helped to minimize the extent of fire to about 300 hectares.

"As soon as the hotspot appeared, members rushed to the location so the fire did not spread. The problem was that sometimes the location could not be penetrated by land route, while helicopters need more time to extinguish," said Ronny, who also the commander of South Kalimantan Police's Mobile Brigade.

So far, he said, hotspots mostly found in the districts of Tapin and South Hulu Sungai (HSS). Of several cases of fires, one is being investigated by the police, namely the case occurred in Banjar District.

"There was a fire incident where we found a jerrycan containing kerosene. There was an indication that it was deliberately burned, now is being investigated by the Law Enforcement Task Force (Satgas Gakkum)," he said.

The Forest and Land Fire Task Force (Satgas Karhutla) under the direction of the South Kalimantan Police Chief Insp.Gen. Nico Afinta has 170 personnel from the provincial police and 663 personnel from sector police.

South Kalimantan Police has also provided Bekantan (an abbreviation for eradicating forest and land fires) application as a means for people to participate in preventing and overcoming forest and land fires.