Government Coordinates to Extinguish Forest Fires

Jakarta (ANTARA) - State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi said the government has carried out cross-agency coordination in an effort to extinguish forest and land fires (karhutla) at various locations.

Speaking to the press after a meeting at the House of Representatives building in Jakarta on Monday, Prasetyo said the government continues to coordinate with various relevant parties to ensure the fires are extinguished promptly so they do not spread further.

“Some of the areas with a very high number of hotspots are West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan, and a fairly large fire has occurred in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java. We continue to coordinate with the East Java provincial government, the regional military commander, the regional police chief, the forestry minister, and the head of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park office to make every possible effort to carry out the extinguishing process as soon as possible so it does not continue to spread,” he said.

According to him, a coordination meeting has also been held with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) to design a weather modification operation (OMC).

Although the OMC cannot be carried out at all hotspot locations, the government continues to monitor developments regularly.

“Then the equipment, including water bombing, helicopters, and aircraft that can help tackle the forest and land fires, in accordance with the instructions and orders of the President last night, today we are coordinating all of it,” he said.

In addition, Prasetyo also urged the public to avoid activities that could create sparks.

“We urge the entire community that this is indeed very dry weather, so it is prone to sparks. We earnestly ask everyone to be vigilant and avoid doing anything that could potentially cause uncontrolled fires,” he said.

Previously, Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni stressed that the President has instructed all levels of government to protect the public from the threat of forest and land fires during the dry season.

“President Prabowo Subianto’s order is clear: the government is ready to protect our citizens from the threat of forest and land fires. The state is present to prevent forest fires,” he said on Friday (7/8).

He reminded that forest and land fires not only damage forests but also disrupt people’s lives, as they can trigger acute respiratory infections (ISPA), force schools to close, hamper economic activity, and disrupt airport operations.

“This must not happen again,” the forestry minister said.

He is optimistic that Indonesia will be able to reduce the number of forest and land fires even though El Nino is expected to arrive earlier this year due to climate change.

“Hopefully this year the number of forest and land fires will be much lower than in 2023, with the least possible impact on the public,” he said.