BPBD: Enforcement of land-burning ban is crucial

The East Kalimantan Provincial Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) has stated that enforcing the rules in Ministry of Environment Circular Letter Number 16 of 2026, which strictly prohibits land clearing by burning, is crucial to prevent haze disasters.

“Enforcement of this national regulation is a crucial step to prevent haze disasters and damage to forest ecosystems,” said Head of East Kalimantan BPBD Buyung Dodi Gunawan in Samarinda on Wednesday.

The government ban is considered important and urgent after firefighting teams had to struggle to extinguish several forest and land fire hotspots for three consecutive days.

Dry weather caused by the strong El Niño phenomenon, he said, has triggered a drastic increase in the number of fires over the past week.

One incident burned ten hectares of shrubland right in the area of the Samarinda-Balikpapan toll road.

The fire also affected the North Sempaja and Lempake areas of Samarinda City, burning four and a half hectares of green shrubland.

“Strong winds and extreme heat made the flames spread very quickly and very difficult for us to bring under control immediately,” said Buyung.

According to him, the losses from the expanding burned areas not only threaten the tropical forest ecosystem but also endanger the respiratory health of thousands of residents in the local sub-districts.

“We sincerely appeal for the awareness of the entire community not to open plantation areas using indiscriminate land-burning methods,” he stressed.

Active community participation is believed to remain the main key in reducing the high potential risk of forest and land fires during this year’s peak dry season.

Education on the dangers of haze is being continuously intensified by government officials in every village to break the bad habit of burning green forests.

“If any resident sees a small fire hotspot, please report it immediately to the nearest post so it can be extinguished right away,” said Buyung.