"Officers are still struggling to extinguish the fire in Gambut Jaya Village, which has entered its fifth day. The joint team from the Jambi Provincial Karhutla Task Force is still working to extinguish the fire at the scene," Head of the Manggala Agni Jambi Operations Area (Daops), Sandy Prabowo, stated in Jambi on Thursday.
He remarked that firefighting efforts are ongoing despite challenges from difficult terrain and limited water supplies, as the location is quite distant from water sources.
Prabowo noted that another challenge was the depth of the peatland, which reaches up to three meters, requiring a substantial amount of water to extinguish.
According to reports from the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and the Indonesian National Police (Polri), both members of the Jambi Karhutla Task Force, the burned area is estimated at 264 hectares. However, this figure is still preliminary and will be reviewed once all fires have been put out by Manggala Agni Jambi.
He stated that Manggala Agni cannot immediately confirm the precise extent of the burned area. Because the assessment uses satellite data, further analysis will be needed after the fire is fully extinguished to determine the damage in Gambut Jaya Village.
"The data on the burned land is preliminary, based on the task force report, and we will later release official data using satellite images for the full extent of the burned land in Gambut Jaya Village," Prabowo explained.
The current firefighting strategy in Gambut Jaya Village involves extinguishing outer fires and the fire source at the center of the location. He remarked that task force officers are currently aiming to extinguish the fires within a week.
"To prevent the spread of land fires, which could impact health and the environment, officers remind the public not to engage in any form of burning," Prabowo stated.
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Translator: Arie Novarina
Editor: Primayanti
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