BNPB: Forest and Land Fires in South Kalimantan Successfully Extinguished

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has stated that forest and land fires (karhutla) which hit a number of points in South Kalimantan Province have been largely extinguished by joint officers.

Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Centre, Abdul Muhari, said in Jakarta on Wednesday that hot weather and strong gusts of wind complicated efforts to extinguish the burning mineral land in Banjarbaru City and Banjar Regency on Tuesday (14/7).

“In Banjarbaru City, the flames hit two urban villages in two sub-districts, namely Cempaka Urban Village in Cempaka Sub-district and Landasan Ulin Timur Urban Village in Landasan Ulin Sub-district,” he said.

Abdul explained that the forest and land fires in the two urban villages scorched scrubland totalling 12.6 hectares.

On the same day, forest and land fires were also reported to have hit the Tungkaran Urban Village area, Martapura Sub-district, Banjar Regency, with a significant affected area. For this incident, Abdul reported that the Banjar Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) recorded the total area of land burned in the Tungkaran area reached 10 hectares, and all hotspots were confirmed to have been successfully extinguished by officers on Tuesday night.