Forest and Land Fires Threaten West Aceh Again, Land Clearing by Burning Suspected as Trigger

Forest and land fires have returned to threaten a peatland area in Cot Seumeureng Village, Samatiga District, West Aceh Regency, as the dry season takes hold. Officers from the West Aceh Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) are battling to extinguish the flames and carrying out cooling operations to prevent the fire from spreading further. The incident is suspected to have been triggered by land clearing and cleaning activities using fire, carried out by irresponsible individuals, a practice that remains one of the main causes of such fires in various regions. The characteristics of peatland make the extinguishing process more difficult, as fire can burn down to the subsurface layers of the soil. The dry season increases the risk of forest and land fires, leading to appeals for the public not to clear land by burning.