Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The Governor of South Kalimantan led the action of dampening peatland at the ring 1 area of Syamsudin Noor International Airport, Banjarbaru city, Thursday, as an effort to prevent forest and land fires.
The land wetting that was carried out in Guntung Damar, Banjarbaru, involved TNI, Polri, Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), firefighters, Forestry Office, the Kalimantan River Management Agency, and related parties.
The governor, popularly known as Uncle Birin, emphasized that this dampening was a measure to mitigate the karhutla disaster, all at once to prevent emergence of smog which has the potential to disrupt flight schedules in one of the South Kalimantan's vital economic objects.
“Almost every day I see fire or smog, so we have tobe sharper in carrying movement, and indeed this is an area that must be fully guard, because it closely related to aviation, the impact is extraordinary if plane cannot fly," he pointed out.
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Uncle Birin recounted that karhutla had also happened severa years ago, even inviting President Jokowi to come to South Kalimantan to directly observe the condition and handling activities carried out by officers.
Uncle Birin invited all regional heads in affected districts and cities to be more sensitive to the handling of forest and land fires in their respective areas.
The number one person in South Kalimantan also reminded land owners to protect their land from burning.
“Because the heat is extraordinary, the lands here easily catches fire. We hope that land owners can protect their land,” said Uncle Birin.
Chief Executive (Kalak) of the South Kalimantan BPBD Suria Fadliansyah accompanied by Head of Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Bambang Dedi Mulyadi said that the land wetting was a mitigaiton effort to prevent wildfire from spreading.
“The water is distributed to forest and land that have not been burned, still green is priotized, to keep the water balanced in the area and the surface not to dry out,” said Suria.
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