Palangkaraya, Ekuatorial – Japan tested the effectiveness of the technology of foam for peat fire suppression, in experiments in Serbu Api team station, Kalampangan district, Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Wednesday (16/9).
This cooperation involves the Center for International Cooperation in Sustainable Management of Tropical Peatland (CIMTROP) from University of Palangkaraya, the University of Kitakyushu Japan, and the Foundation for the Advancement of Industry Science and Technology (FAIS).
In the experiment, Professor Kazuya Uezu from the University of Kitakyushu and the Japanese team made a medium with the diameter of 3×3 meters, then let the fire breaks into peat. After burning for a long time, one of the team members checked with heat detection equipment to ensure fire hotspots appear on the indicator.
Then, the Japanese team sprayed foam as high as 10-15 centimeters from the soil surface twice to extinguish. Kazuya explained, spraying using 3-5 liters of water per square meter, one percent of the foam. For one hectare of peat takes 55 liters of foam at a cost of 1,500 yen (about 150 thousand).
“This technique has been used by firefighters in Japan. The foam used are environmentally friendly and not harmful to plants. It has been tested, “said Kazuya.
Meanwhile, Head of CIMTROP from University of Palangkaraya Suwido H. Limin said that conventionally peat fire suppression by flooding an area of one square meter with 200-400 liters of water. Nearly 18 years engaged in it in Central Kalimantan, Suwido said that technique applied is always the same from year to year. Repeated fires, in the same place, but the results no blackouts. Haze did not subside.
“This technique is different from watering with water. Water will emit fume, but if the water is less, it burns again. But with foam, foam clog oxygen into the peat layer so efficient with less water that has been mixed with foam, hotspot point decrease and disappear,” said Suwido.
Regardless of the technique, Suwido said it is time for local governments to enable community patrol in the early drought. “People will be paid and given the responsibility of patrolling with a distance of one to two kilometers per person,” he said during the trial that was also attended by the Commander of Korem 102 Panju Panjung, Colonel Purwo Sudaryanto, as well as the Head of Research Agency for Innovation and Science Development of Palangkaraya, Kaspinoor. Maturidi