Environment Minister Praises Pre-Disaster Mitigation in Riau: Forest Fires Relatively Down
Environment Minister Jumhur Hidayat has expressed appreciation for the Riau Regional Police, the TNI, and Forkopimda for carrying out effective forest and land fire (karhutla) mitigation even before the El Nino phenomenon emerged. These early mitigation measures have resulted in forest and land fires in the Riau region being relatively under control.
“I see that in Riau, because the mitigation was good before this El Nino, there are canal blocks, preparation of retention basins and so on,” said Jumhur in Kampar on Saturday (22/8/2026).
In particular, Jumhur also praised the mitigation steps taken by the Riau Regional Police through the Green Policing programme initiated by Police Chief Inspector General Herry Heryawan.
“The Riau Police Chief is also working hard with his Green Policing,” he said.
According to data from the Ministry of Environment, forest and land fires in Riau Province this year have decreased significantly compared to previous years.
“Alhamdulillah, the number of fires and so on has decreased far more than before,” he added.
Meanwhile, Riau Police Chief Inspector General Herry Heryawan stated that the number of forest and land fires in Riau Province generally shows a downward trend. Together with the TNI and Forkopimda, his team is currently focusing on handling a fire in the Kerumutan area, Pelalawan Regency.
“Overall in Riau Province there has been a decline, only one point in Pelalawan Regency, especially in Kerumutan,” said Inspector General Herry.
Herry Heryawan said this achievement was thanks to good mitigation and collaboration between the Riau Regional Police, the TNI, and Forkopimda carried out before the disaster.
“We have made mitigation efforts by building retention basins, canal blocks and so on,” he added.
In addition, land and air patrols are also carried out continuously to monitor potential forest and land fire hotspots.
Today, the Riau Regional Police together with the Riau Provincial Health Office and the Pelalawan Regency Government went to the forest and land fire location to provide medical services to residents affected by the smoke in Kerumutan, Pelalawan.
“Today a simultaneous check was carried out in Kerumutan Village, especially to check children affected by acute respiratory infections, including distributing masks and trauma healing,” he continued.
The Riau Regional Police recorded that the forest and land fire in Kerumutan occurred on an area of approximately 280 hectares. The fire, which has been burning for 26 days, is being handled and 81 hectares have been successfully extinguished. The joint team is currently continuing to extinguish the fire in the area.