To mitigate the disaster of peat fires in Central Borneo, the Borneo Nature Foundation (BNF) together with the Center for International Cooperation on Sustainable Management of Tropical Peatlands (CIMTROP), organized training activities for peat fire suppression and the use of thermal imaging drones for the community. The activity, which was held on the 2nd and 3rd of September 2020, was held at Palangka Raya University (UPR).
The training activity was attended by around 30 participants from various community organizations and representatives of institutions in the Central Kalimantan region, especially Palangka Raya, such as the Pahandut Police, Fire Care Society (MPA), Mapala UPR, Manggala Agni, UPR Karhutla Task Force, CIMTROP Patrol Team, Fire Attack Team (TSA) in Palangka Raya, Mapala Sylva, Mapala Figure, UPR Student Regiment, Medical Faculty UPR as Medical Assistance Team.
Head of the Technical Implementation Unit (UPT) of the CIMTROP Peatland Laboratory (LLG), Darmae Nasir, said the training for the community was part of strengthening the role and capacity of local communities, in efforts to prevent and extinguish early fires.
Patrol Team CIMTROP and Community Firefighters Team (MPA) provided training in drilling wells and fire fighting
Photo by Ferdinandus Eko | BNF
“This means that before the area of land that is burned becomes wider, there must be an effort to extinguish it. And, it is difficult without involving the local community. Therefore, through this training we invite the community to learn together how to properly cope with and prevent peat forest fires.” said Darmae, on Wednesday (3/9/2020).
Darmae added, in addition to fire control and work safety techniques and strategies, they also included an introduction to extinguishing tools, drilling wells, legal aspects of forest and land fires (Karhutla), and the use of drones. The training material was presented by a team from CIMTROP, BNF, and Pahandut Police.
The BNF Conservation Division’s GIS Coordinator, Restu Aminullah, said that apart from blackout, the most important thing in overcoming the disaster of peat forest fires is prevention. Therefore, this training was also filled with materials related to prevention, such as the use of drones.
“Drones are very effective, real time, low cost, and flexible tools for mapping, aerial shooting and hotspot monitoring. If the local people can make good use of it, then they can monitor the burning forest near them, including prevention and setting up an early warning system, “said Restu.
BNF Conservation Team provide training on the use of drones as a tool to monitor fires
Photo by Ferdinandus Eko | BNF