Community and government preparedness to reduce the risk of land fires on peatlands

Abstract

Every year, land fires on peatlands in South Kalimantan occur, primarily during the dry season. Society and local authority preparation is necessary in communicating to land burning in order to lower the probability of land fires and their impact—data collection using interviews and FGDs. The number of respondents interviewed was 28, who came from the Regional Disaster Management Agency or Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah (BPBD) of Banjarbaru, Forest Fire Control Brigade (Manggala Agni) of South Kalimantan Province, and the Fire Brigade of Banjarbaru. We also interviewed the Fire Care Community or Masyarakat Peduli Api (MPA), consisting of 3 village administrators and 15 MPA members. The results of the study result that fire care communities (MPA) and Fire Brigade or Barisan Pemadam Kebakaran (BPK) are always ready to be on standby in controlling land fires in their area. They cooperated with local governments to control and extinguish fires. Local governments are also on standby when fires occur. The provincial government’s infrastructure and water sources for blackouts, routinely conduct patrols and socialization with the community. However, various problems were faced, including limited water sources and infrastructure. Therefore, difficulties in dealing with disasters must be addressed to reduce the risk of broader peatland fires.