Forest and Land Fires in West Aceh and Nagan Raya Spread, BNPB Conducts Weather Modification Operation

Forest and land fires in Aceh Province, specifically in West Aceh and Nagan Raya districts, are continuing to spread. The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), in cooperation with PT Smart Cakrawala Aviation, has therefore launched a weather modification operation as an effort to prevent the fires from expanding in both areas. “This cloud seeding operation has been deployed as part of the disaster management efforts in West Aceh and Nagan Raya,” said Teuku Ronal, Acting Head of the West Aceh Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), in Meulaboh on Saturday (25/7). The weather modification operation will focus on potential areas to trigger the formation or thickening of rain clouds. He explained that the seeding mission targets the West Aceh and Nagan Raya areas within a blocking area of Radial 120-210/50-120 NM with a bearing of 140 from Banda Aceh. “This operation is planned to deploy 1,000 kg (1 tonne) of NaCl salt,” he said. The first sortie flight was operated using a Cessna C208 aircraft with registration number PK-SNM. The aircraft took off from Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport (BTJ) in Blang Bintang, Aceh Besar District. Seeding was carried out at a cruising altitude of between 8,000 and 12,000 feet. “The seeding of one tonne of NaCl was carried out at an ideal altitude of 8,000-12,000 feet so that the distribution of chloride salt within the clouds runs optimally,” he said. The weather modification operation strategy is expected to effectively support the acceleration of weather and hydrometeorological recovery in the western region of Aceh. Meanwhile, the West Aceh Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) also recorded that the area of land currently burnt in four sub-districts has reached 12.5 hectares, covering Johan Pahlawan, Samatiga, Meureubo, and Woyla Barat.