Central Kalimantan Police Chief: Tumbang Nusa forest and land fires under control

Palangka Raya (ANTARA) - Central Kalimantan Police Chief Inspector General Iwan Kurniawan has said that forest and land fires in the Tumbang Nusa area of Pulang Pisau Regency are now under control following intensive firefighting efforts.

“Most of the fire hotspots in the area have been successfully dealt with over the past few days, although there are still several points that require serious handling,” he said in Palangka Raya on Wednesday.

The Tumbang Nusa area has been one of the priority areas for forest and land fire management.

He said that one of the firefighting measures in the area involved the construction of the Medson Canal, approximately five kilometres long, stretching from Jalan Poros Tengah towards the Kahayan River.

“As a tactical strategy and measure, the Forest and Land Fire Task Force built a special canal called the Medson Canal, and along the canal around 25 water retention basins have also been created as water reserves,” he said.

To maintain water availability, he said, the Central Kalimantan Police will add new water retention basins every 100 metres and drill boreholes in the area.

“The main obstacle at present is the difficulty of obtaining water. The water levels in the retention basins and the Kahayan River are beginning to recede, making it difficult to draw water for water bombing,” he said.

Wetting operations are still being carried out at vulnerable points even though the overall forest and land fire situation has been brought under control.

“We are ensuring that the situation is under control and the joint team remains on standby to extinguish the remaining fire hotspots,” said Iwan.

According to a report from the Pulang Pisau Regional Disaster Management Agency, the area affected by forest and land fires in Tumbang Nusa village covers 192.29 hectares, while in Tanjung Taruna village it covers 98 hectares.