Land with an area of approximately five hectares caught fire in Sungai Cabag Barat Village, Sukamara Regency, Central Kalimantan Province, Sunday (8/5) at 14.00 WIB. The fire was extinguished by a joint team from the Quick Reaction Team (TRC) of the Sukamara Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) together with the TNI, members of the Luci Beach Police, Manggala Agni and the Fire Care Community (MPA) of Sungai Branch Village West.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, but when the fire occurred in the Sukamara Regency area, it had not rained for several days. Luckily no casualties were caused by the incident.
Meanwhile, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has issued early warning information related to the start of the dry season which began to hit parts of the country in May.
According to the BMKG's official statement, the start of the dry season was marked by the phenomenon of scorching temperatures that occurred during the day, which was triggered by the apparent position of the sun which is in the northern region of the equator.
On the other hand, the BMKG explained that this was also followed by the growth of clouds and the phenomenon of rain which would greatly decrease, so that sunny weather in the early morning would dominate.
In response to information that the start of the dry season will be colored as a Rainless Day (HTH) in several areas in the country, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) reminds all policy makers in the regions to increase awareness regarding the potential for drought and forest fires and land.
Several efforts such as rehabilitation of irrigation networks, construction of reservoirs and water reservoirs, maintenance of conservation lands and water and outreach to the community to save water should be carried out as much as possible.
In addition, all components in the region must jointly make efforts to prevent forest and land fires by means of routine patrols, monitoring fire-prone points, emiditly extinguishing fires when hotspots are found until they are completely extinguished, creating air storage, not dispose of cigarette butts carelessly and accidentally or carelessly burn.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) together with the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), Mandala Agni, and the Fire Care Society provided information regarding the impact of land and forest fires (karhutla). This information can be shared through the official BMKG account via its official Twitter account, @infoBMKG and this information is summarized based on a series of blackout actions.
Forest and land fires have an impact on destroying ecosystems and causing the destruction of flora and fauna that grow and live in forests. Other effects of the smoke generated can cause Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (ARI), Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Heart Disease and irritation to the eyes, throat and nose. Haze from forest fires can also disrupt the transportation sector, especially aviation transportation.
The spread of smoke and emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases into the air will also have an impact on global warming and climate change. Forest fires cause forests to become denuded, so they are no longer able to store water reserves during the rainy season, this can cause landslides or floods. Apart from that, forest and land fires also result in reduced sources of clean water and drought, because there are no more trees to store water reserves
