Parigi Regency deploys two fire trucks to tackle forest and land fires in Donggulu

Palu (ANTARA) - The Parigi Moutong Regency Government, Central Sulawesi, has deployed two fire truck units to handle forest and land fires (karhutla) in Labuan Donggulu Village, Toribulu District.

“The cause of the fire is not yet known. Officers have been dispatched to carry out fire extinguishing measures,” said the Head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Parigi Moutong, Moh Rivai, when contacted from Palu, Wednesday.

He said that information was received by the BPBD Parigi Moutong Operations Control Center (Pusdalops) at 20:24 local time, where the incident was estimated to have occurred on Wednesday (February 25) evening at around 20:00 local time.

The agency has also deployed a rapid response team (TRC) consisting of five people to conduct a rapid assessment of the non-natural disaster.

“We cannot yet confirm the extent of the area affected by the fire. The area on fire is located on a mountain, and emergency response involves deploying fire trucks,” he said.

“Strong winds have the potential to cause new fires, because the land in the area is experiencing drought due to extreme weather,” said Rivai.

The BPBD is currently continuing to coordinate with relevant technical agencies, the local sub-district and village governments for an integrated response to the karhutla.

The current conditions in the field are expected to be resolved as quickly as possible, but the mobilisation of fire trucks from the district capital to the location of the karhutla is quite far and is estimated to take one hour and 30 minutes.

Currently, the TNI together with local residents are trying to extinguish the fire using manual tools in the form of spray tanks.

“We urge the public not to carry out activities that can trigger forest and land fires, especially in the midst of extreme weather conditions. The karhutla that occurred in early February is a lesson for all of us,” he said.