JAKARTA, NNC - Manggala Agni Forest and Land Fire (Karhutla) Controlling Brigade of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) together with the parties in the field continue to make efforts to prevent land fires from spreading.

"Until now, Manggala Agni troops are still doing further extinguishing in some areas prone to forest and land fires," said Director of Forest and Land Fire Control at Environment Ministry Raffles B Panjaitan, as quoted from the website of Environment Ministry, Tuesday (2/13/2018).

In Riau, Manggala Agni of Dumai Operation Area conducted a joint extinguishing with the Fire Dept. team, the Fire Concern Society (MPA), Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI), and National Police (Polri) in Sri Tanjung Village, Rupat Sub-district, Bengkalis Regency. Fires of ± 30 hectares (Ha) occurred in this peatland and were dominated by shrubs and oil palms. The owner of the burning land was still under examination of Batu Panjang Sector Police.

Meanwhile Manggala Agni of Batam conducted a combined extinguishing with firefighting team of Batam City, TNI, Polri, and the surrounding community. Fires of ± 30 Ha occurred on land dominated by secondary forests and shrubs. The extinguishing attempt was a bit constrained by the difficulty of water sources and lack of lighting. This night's extinguishing lasted until 3 am managed to put out the fire that occurred.

In West Kalimantan, Manggala Agni of Pontianak collaborated with Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Kubu Raya, TNI, Polri, and MPA in Sido Mulyo Hamlet, Limbung Village, Sei Raya Sub-district, Kubu Raya Regency. Fires of 2.5 Ha in community-dominated peatlands, ferns, and acacia were approaching nearby school buildings, but firefighting teams were able to cope.

Similarly, Manggala Agni of Ketapang together with the TNI conducted extinguishing in the Village of Sungai Besar, Sub-district of South Matan Hilir, Ketapang Regency. Fire on community land area of ± 2.5 Ha occurred in peatlands dominated with shrubs and reeds.

In Central Kalimantan, Manggala Agni of Pangkalan Bun together with TNI, Polri, and the Community conducted an extinguishing of ± 1.5 Ha in Mendawai Seberang Village Km 14, South Arut Sub-District, West Kotawaringin Regency. Extinguishing that lasted for four hours and ended at 5 pm was dominated by burnt materials such as shrubs, weeds, palm trees, ferns, and pineapple plants.

Meanwhile, based on monitoring by Forest and Land Fire Controlling Post on Monday (2/12) at 8 pm, there were two hotspots monitored by NOAA19 satellite in West and East Kalimantan Province and TERRA-AQUA (NASA) satellite showed 13 hotspots: in Riau Province six spots, Bengkulu one spot, and Aceh six spots.