Pamekasan deploys 378 TNI-Polri personnel to prevent forest and land fires

Pamekasan Regency, located on Madura Island, is one of the regions with a high incidence of fire.

The Pamekasan Regency Government in East Java is involving at least 378 personnel from the TNI and Polri to prevent the occurrence of forest and land fires (karhutla) in the area. Personnel from these two institutions are stationed across villages and sub-districts throughout 13 districts across the Pamekasan Regency.

“We have requested assistance from both institutions, according to their respective areas of duty, namely in each village and sub-district within Pamekasan,” said the Regional Secretary (Sekda) of Pamekasan, Taufikurrachman, on Thursday.

He explained that the central government has instructed provincial and regency governments to implement measures to prevent potential forest and land fires during the current dry season.

“Within the TNI, there are Bhabinsa members serving in villages, while the Polri has Bhabinkamtibmas. Therefore, we need their active role to work together in helping to prevent potential forest and land fires in their respective areas of duty,” he said.

Regional Secretary Taufukrachman noted that Pamekasan Regency is one of the regencies on Madura Island with a high fire rate.

According to reports from the Pamekasan Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) team, there have been 37 incidents of forest and land fires during this dry season. These incidents occurred across six districts and 18 villages, with the highest number of occurrences recorded in the Pamekasan Kota district.

“With the active role of the TNI-Polri and the Pamekasan Regency government teams, including the BPBD, firefighting teams, and the Civil Service Police Unit (Satpol-PP), we hope that no further fire incidents will occur,” he concluded.