ULOG: 20 "Forest fires in South Kalimantan have reached 2,400 hectares"

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Forest fires in South Kalimantan reached 2,400 hectares with 500 hotspots scattered in all districts and cities in the province.

Head of the South Kalimantan Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Wahyudin in said, his party continues to make efforts to disseminate the ban on land burning and the establishment of forest and land fire posts.

"Now the number of hotspots continues to increase, from May to September, the number of hotspots has reached 500," he said, quoted by reporters on Sunday (9/23).

Most areas have hotspots, including Banjar, Banjarbaru and some areas with quite large peat areas.

According to Wahyudin, the opening of agricultural land is one of the causes of land fires in several regions.

"Farmers are still there who deliberately burn their land, for preparation of planting, although socialization has been carried out," he said.

In fact, he added, legal sanctions for land burners have also been implemented by the task force, but there have not been many deterrent effects on the community.

As is known, since the last few weeks, land fires, especially in the Banjarbaru region, have disrupted flights at Syamsuddin Noor Airport.

According to several officers at the airport, since the last few weeks, many flights have been delayed, especially in the morning, due to haze.

Previously, Wahyudin said the current status of forest and land fires was fire emergency alert.

"At present the status of South Kalimantan is alert to the emergency of forest and land fires because the size of the burned land is quite large and has begun to have an impact on the appearance of thin smog," he said.

He said, his side was aware of forest and land fires in five vulnerable areas which were located adjacent to Banjarmasin Syamsudin Noor Airport in Banjarbaru City.

Five karhutla-prone areas that surround Syamsudin Noor Airport are Banjarbaru City, Banjar Regency, Tanah Laut Regency, Barito Kuala Regency and parts of Banjarmasin City.

"We are aware of forest and land fires outside the airport area because if there is a fire and causes haze, the impact is very large for airlines," he said.

According to him, the most burned area around the airport is peatland, making it difficult for the personnel of the forest fire prevention task force to extinguish it.

"The extinguishing of peatland fires is very difficult because the flames on the surface can be extinguished but in the lower layers it can ignite at any time and the flames flare up again," he said.