Forestry Minister: Tanjung Puting National Park Firefighting Focused on Four Locations

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said efforts to tackle forest and land fires in Tanjung Puting National Park were being strengthened, with four main locations mapped as priorities for firefighting.

In a statement received in Jakarta on Wednesday, Raja Juli Antoni said thermal-drone mapping had identified four main fronts in the effort to extinguish fires in Tanjung Puting, Central Kalimantan: Pesalat, Teluk Pulai, Sungai Buluh Kecil and Sungai Buluh Besar, as well as the Sungai Bawung and Tanjung Rengas areas.

“Of the many hotspots spread across Tanjung Puting, thermal drones have enabled us to identify four battlegrounds, or four points where we have to fight the fires,” Raja Antoni said in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, earlier that day.

The priority hotspots were mapped as the Forestry Ministry, local governments, the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police, Manggala Agni, the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) and volunteers stepped up firefighting in the Tanjung Puting National Park conservation area.

To prevent the fires from spreading, the government is preparing to add drilled wells. The mapping indicates that around 30 wells will be needed to support firefighting efforts.

Around 160 ground personnel will also be deployed to tackle the fires. The government is assessing whether heavy machinery could be used to create firebreaks, taking into account the condition and depth of the peat.

“The key is to prevent the fires from entering the core zone,” he said.

Ground teams will also be reinforced in Teluk Pulai, Sungai Buluh Kecil, Sungai Buluh Besar, Sungai Bawung and Tanjung Rengas. Some personnel will be prepared to remain in the field for about a week so operations can continue without having to travel back and forth from the firefighting sites.

The minister stressed that all levels of government and the public were continuing to work to tackle the fires in Tanjung Puting.

“God willing, the central and regional governments, the TNI, the National Police, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) will not lose heart, shirk responsibility or walk away. We will do everything that is feasible,” Raja Juli Antoni said.