Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Firefighter volunteers had to work hard diving in a river to fill water into a reservoir to stem out forest and land fires in Landasan Ulin Selatan, Liang Anggang Sub-district, Banjarbaru City.
“This is our common duty, never go home before it goes out,” said Alfian, a volunteer, in Banjarbaru, Sunday night.
He said firefighters moved quickly after receiving information about the fires at 19.00 Wita (Central Indonesia Time Zone).
Forest fires have again ravaged parts of Banjarbaru City at Landasan Ulin Selatan.
Three point of fires were recorded with a distance of about 100 meters each.
From afternoon until evening around 21.00 Wita, thick haze soared over the area.
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Meanwhile, officers and volunteers were struggling to ensure that the fire did not getting bigger and did not spread to residential areas.
Officers also conducted data collecting on the area affected by fires.
Previously, Manager of Disaster Mitigation Control Operation (Pusdalops-PB) of the South Kalimantan Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD Kalsel) Ricky Ferdyanto said forest and land fires increasingly expanding in the province.
“We are trying our best to handle it to ensure the safety of local residents,” he said in Banjarbaru, last Saturday.
He assured that BPBD personnel were always on standby to monitor hotspots that appear throughout South Kalimantan.
Based on data compiled by South Kalimantan BPBD as of Saturday, forest and land fires has reached 163.15 hectares.
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