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

The Manggala Agni team has increased its number of personnel to accelerate the handling of forest and land fires occurring on peatland in Sumber Hidup Village, Pedamaran Timur District, Ogan Komering Ilir Regency, South Sumatra. Ferdian Kristanto, Head of the Ministry of Forestry’s Regional Fire Control Centre for Sumatra, stated on Friday that the number of Manggala Agni personnel on duty at the location has been increased to 45. Previously, the firefighting effort involved 11 Manggala Agni personnel from the Sumatera XVII/OKI Operations Area, 60 members of the PT PSM Fire Fighting Team, two personnel from the East Pedamaran Police, and three members of the Fire Care Community. According to him, the fire, which started on Thursday, has burned approximately six hectares of land and is still in the process of being extinguished. ‘The fire in Pedamaran occurred on six hectares of peatland. The wind direction is changing and the smoke is very thick. The fire status is not yet extinguished, so continued firefighting is still needed,’ 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 burned. The burned vegetation is dominated by shrubs, belidang, gelam stands, and ferns, which are highly flammable and complicate the firefighting process. To speed up the handling, water bombing helicopters have also been deployed. Additionally, the air task force is scheduled to conduct further firefighting operations at the location on Friday.