Joint Team Tames Wildfire on Jambi-South Sumatra Border

JAKARTA — A joint team has successfully extinguished a forest and land fire (karhutla) that occurred in the border area between Jambi Province and South Sumatra. Officers are currently carrying out cooling operations at the site to prevent the fire from reigniting, while also investigating the cause of the blaze.

The fire broke out around Air Merah Hamlet, Ladang Panjang Village, Sungai Gelam Subdistrict, Muaro Jambi Regency, which borders the area of Musi Banyuasin Regency, South Sumatra.

“It has been extinguished and cooling operations are under way. That is the border area of Palembang (Musi Banyuasin),” said Paruhuman Lubis, Head of the Muaro Jambi Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), in Sengeti on Thursday.

According to Paruhuman, the firefighting operation was conducted by a joint team consisting of the Jambi Provincial BPBD, the Muaro Jambi Regency BPBD, the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), the National Police (Polri) and Manggala Agni, with assistance from local residents.

He said the fire began on Wednesday (15/7) in the afternoon. After receiving the report, the team immediately headed to the location to carry out firefighting operations and succeeded in bringing the blaze under control on Thursday (16/7).

Paruhuman admitted he could not yet confirm the extent of the burned land. However, he confirmed that the affected area was mineral land located near a peatland zone.

Although the fire has been successfully extinguished, officers remain on standby at the site to conduct cooling operations in anticipation of new fire hotspots emerging.