A Disaster Mitigation Agency water bomber helicopter drops water to put out a fire along Rambutan River in North Indralaya district, Ogan Ilir regency, South Sumatera, Monday (7/8). In the last two days, the peatland fire in Ogan Ilir regency has spread across 170 hectares. The South Sumatera Police has allocated Rp 2 billion to investigate forest fires.
SOLO, KOMPAS – President Joko Widodo has reminded heads of regions, the Indonesian Military and the National Police about the threat of the forest and peatland fires occurring in a number of regions. Any fires must be extinguished immediately.
The President has instructed Coordinating Politics, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto to invite the heads of regional and district military commands, regional and resort police and regional administrations to remind them again about the threat of forest and peatland fires in several regions.
“I would like to remind [you] again that the fires, like the ones in the past, must be stopped,” said the President in Solo, Central Java, on Wednesday (9/8).
After leading a coordination meeting on forest and peatland fires in Jakarta last week, Wiranto said that the government has prepared all available resources, including firefighting facilities, to deal with the forest and peatland fires (Kompas, 4/8).
The Environment and Forestry Ministry has also been monitoring the development of firefighting and fire prevention efforts across several regions. Integrated inter-agency patrols that are operating in eight provinces susceptible to forest and peatland fires continue to be intensified.
“The Manggala Agni team has continued to carry out patrols and public dissemination in the regions susceptible to fire,” Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said.
Responding quickly
On his visit to Central Kalimantan yesterday, National Police chief Tito Karnavian ordered his men to respond quickly to emerging hotspots before the fire spread. Preventive measures must be done in coordination with other institutions.
“If a hotspot is detected, go after it immediately. The task force, beginning with the police, the military, regional administrations and finally, the people, should work together to put out the fire,” Tito said.
Tito also instructed the police to coordinate with the military, and for regional administrations to be on alert status in fire-prone regions before a major fire occured.
“That is why the alert status is applied before a fire occurs, particularly in peatlands. Because if it is already on fire, water-bombing from helicopters will be useless. Only rain can put the fire out,” he said.
Tito urged the people not to clear land by using fire, and asked regional administrations to approach farmers and support them by giving them tools and equipment so that they did not clear farmland using the slash-and-burn method.
Yesterday, in Pekanbaru, a meeting was held on the Monitoring and Assistance Team of Program VII, the National Police chief’s Promoter Activity 3 in the Mitigation of Peatland and Forest Fires in Sumatera.
The meeting was attended by National Police chief operations assistant Insp. Gen. M Iriawan and all regional police chiefs in Sumatera and Riau, as well as representatives from the Indonesian Military and the Environment and Forestry Ministry.
“Today, we gather to exchange information, security and how we can act. We will collectively find a solution to the problem,” said Comr. Gen. Putut Bayu Eko Seno, head of the National Police Security Maintenance Agency.
Synergized efforts by related parties had proven to reduce peatland fires in Riau. “In 2015, fires in Riau which covered 11,328 hectares went down to 9,482 hectares in 2016. As of July 2017, the area affected by peatland fires in Riau is only 537 hectares,” said Riau Police chief Insp. Gen. Zulkarnain.
