ULM Deploys Students on Field Course to Tackle Forest and Land Fires

Banjarbaru (ANTARA) - Universitas Lambung Mangkurat (ULM) has deployed dozens of student groups to carry out field coursework in tackling forest and land fires (karhutla) in the Banjarbaru area of South Kalimantan.

“Today the students witnessed first-hand how joint personnel from the South Kalimantan Regional Police (Polda Kalsel), Korem 101/Antasari and the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) carried out extinguishing operations on burned land,” said Professor Rahmida Erliyani, the lecturer accompanying the students, on Monday.

The site, located on Jalan Tambak Buluh in Landasan Ulin Timur sub-district, Landasan Ulin district, Banjarbaru, was where fire had burned a considerable area of land, and the students experienced for themselves what it takes to put out the flames.

Taking turns, the students held hoses to spray water onto pockets of fire on the peatland.

The students then observed how an innovative surfactant liquid concocted by the Forensic Laboratory Division (Bidlabfor) of Polda Kalsel can cool peat burning beneath the ground surface.

Rahmida hoped that by going directly into the field, the students would gain a clearer view of the facts: that extinguishing burned land is extremely difficult, particularly on peat soil.

From the field course, the students also conducted observations which would later be set out in a report for the Introduction to Wetland Environments course.

“What the students discover in the field can later become material for a national seminar on environmental matters,” added the professor from the Faculty of Law, who also heads the ULM Centre for Police Studies.

The South Kalimantan Chief of Police, Commissioner General Dr Rosyanto Yudha Hermawan, acknowledged that the students’ presence was highly positive for educational purposes, enabling them to act as agents conveying public awareness about the dangers of forest and land fires.

“It is time for students to educate communities not to burn land, because the environmental impact is very severe, including the health disaster of smoke haze,” said the police chief.

Yudha also expressed appreciation for the enthusiasm of ULM students and the wider academic community in their concern for tackling forest and land fires.

“We have also been greatly assisted by ULM’s wetland environment experts in working together to find the best methods for extinguishing fires on peat soil,” he said.