Anticipating Super El Niño, Riau Police Chief Monitors Forest and Land Fires in Bengkalis
Riau Provincial Police Chief Irjen Pol Herry Heryawan directly conducted monitoring of forest and land fires (karhutla) occurring in Sekodi Village, Bengkalis Subdistrict, Bengkalis Regency. In addition to monitoring, the Chief’s presence aimed to provide moral support to the joint team working hard to extinguish the fire.
Irjen Herry Heryawan visited the location on Friday (3/4/2026) afternoon. He was accompanied by IPB University Professor in forest protection, Prof Bambang Hero Suharjo, and Bengkalis Police Chief AKBP Fahrian Saleh Siregar.
This activity is part of integrated steps to anticipate the increasing potential for karhutla in Riau, in line with predictions of the strengthening El Niño phenomenon in 2026, which could worsen drought conditions. The presence of Prof Bambang Hero Suharjo further strengthens the scientific aspect in handling karhutla.
Currently, a joint team from BPBD, TNI, Polri, Manggala Agni, volunteers, and the Fire Care Community (MPA) is working to extinguish the fire. The two-star general emphasised that handling karhutla cannot be done partially but requires cross-sectoral collaborative efforts.
“We are here to provide motivation, moral support, and ensure that firefighting efforts are carried out maximally. This cannot be done individually but must be collaborative involving all parties,” said Irjen Herry.
The current collaborative efforts and strategic steps are to detect and extinguish fire points as early as possible so that the fire does not spread, especially ahead of the dry season peak. He also warned of the Super El Niño threat that could cause devastating karhutla like in 1997-1998.
“It is better to work hard now before entering the dry season peak, rather than later extinguishing in much larger and more difficult conditions,” he asserted.
Law Enforcement
In addition to firefighting efforts, Riau Police Chief is committed to enforcing the law against forest and land burning perpetrators. Throughout 2025, Polda Riau and its ranks have handled 74 karhutla cases and arrested 74 suspects.
“Law enforcement must be firm and just. There should be no tolerance for burning perpetrators, whether intentional or hiding behind negligence excuses,” he stressed.
On the other hand, preventive measures are also carried out by Polda Riau together with stakeholders by providing education to the community. Polda Riau and the regional government have also installed hundreds of warning signboards (plang) on criminal threats to burning perpetrators, as well as prohibitions on utilising burnt land for plantation activities.
“We want a deterrent effect. Land that has been burned must not be utilised again, including for oil palm planting. This is part of the moratorium effort so that similar incidents do not recur,” he added.
Super El Niño Threat
On the same occasion, Prof Bambang Hero Suharjo reminded that this year’s situation requires extra serious attention and proactive steps before haze smoke engulfs the archipelago.
The term ‘Super El Niño’ refers to the phenomenon of warming sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean reaching at least 2.7°C above average. Its impacts are significant: shifts in global atmospheric circulation that trigger extreme weather.
“With this 2.7°C condition, it is exactly like the 1997-1998 fire incident, where 10-11 million hectares of land were burned and 500 lives were lost,” said Bambang.
Bambang then mentioned the Green Policing programme initiated by Riau Police Chief Irjen Pol Herry Heryawan. According to him, Polda Riau’s strategic steps in massive tree planting actions can prevent worse karhutla occurrences.
“Polda Riau has implemented Green Policing, tree planting and so on. Because, the fires that occur must be balanced with tree planting. If this is not done, then the emissions we have calculated must be revised again,” he said.
“Because the greenhouse gas emissions we release must be controlled with planting, and Polda Riau has done that, even though it looks like ‘playing around’ planting…planting…planting, but if we look at it scientifically, that is the way to suppress greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.