Manggala Agni Deploys Additional Personnel to Tackle Forest and Land Fires in South Sumatra's OKI

Palembang (ANTARA) - The Manggala Agni team has increased its number of personnel to accelerate the handling of forest and land fires (karhutla) occurring in the peatlands of Sumber Hidup Village, East Pedamaran District, Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Regency, South Sumatra.

The Head of the Forest Fire Control Office of the Ministry of Forestry for the Sumatra Region, Ferdian Kristanto, stated in Palembang on Friday that the number of Manggala Agni personnel deployed to the site has been increased to 45 people to expedite fire suppression.

Previously, firefighting efforts involved 11 Manggala Agni personnel from Daops Sumatra XVII/OKI, 60 personnel from the PT PSM Fire Brigade (RPK), two personnel from the East Pedamaran Police, three TNI (Indonesian National Armed Forces) personnel, and three members of the Fire Care Community (MPA).

According to him, the fire, which has been burning since Thursday (2/7), has destroyed approximately six hectares of land and is still in the process of being extinguished.

“The fire in Pedamaran occurred on six hectares of peatland. Wind directions are fluctuating and the smoke is quite thick. The fire status has not yet been declared extinguished, so further suppression is still required,” he said.

Based on field reports, officers have so far only managed to extinguish the fire in an area of about one hectare out of the total six hectares of burnt land.

The burning vegetation is dominated by shrubs, belidang, melaleuca trees, and ferns, which are highly flammable, thereby complicating the suppression process.

To accelerate the response, water bombing helicopters have also been deployed. Additionally, aerial task forces are scheduled to conduct further suppression operations at the location on Friday.