Banjarmasin, S Kalimatan (ANTARA) - The South Kalimantan Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) is increasing alertness after forest and land fires hit 14 points of areas in different places.
“(The latest) we received a report of a fire incident in Banjarbaru City yesterday, our team moved quickly and had put out the fire,” Head of South Kalimantan BPBD Raden Suria Fadliansyah said when confirmed in Banjarmasin, Friday.
The fire incident in Kampung Purun, Guntung Manggis Urban Village, Landasan Ulin Sub-district, Banjarbaru City, hit around one hectare land. BPBD deployed two of its ground fleet units and collaborated with related parties. The team had extinguished the fire in not long.
Based on BPBD's data, the total forest and land fires hit around 18 hectares of land in three districts and city, namely Banjarbaru 15 hectares, Banjar District 1 hectare, and Tanah Laut District 2.5 hectares.
The latest fire in Banjarbaru have made this area the most prone to forest and land fires this year.
Responding to this, Raden stated that his team is getting more ready to go to the field.
“We apply 1x24 hour standby at the South Kalimantan BPBD Main Post,” he said.
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The agency continues to maximize all existing facilities and infrastructure, including digital communication network and special radio.
Meanwhile, a member of the BPBD Task Force, Mansyah, told that when he took to the field to tackle yesterday's fire, the terrain in the field was quite difficult because the point of fire was far in the middle of the land.
“It was in the middle, but it did'nt spread too widely, because the ground is still wet,” he said.
Mansyah said that Banjarbaru City is now the center of attention, because fires frequently occurred.
He said, he and his team are assigned 1x24 hours to guard, prevent, and tackle the potential disaster, especially forest and land fires.
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