Firefighting Continues on 81-Hectare Peatland Fire in Bengkalis
Firefighting operations to extinguish forest and land fires in Pematang Pudu Village, Mandau District, Bengkalis Regency, Riau, are still ongoing as of Tuesday (21/7). After a week of handling, four Manggala Agni teams remain on site to ensure that embers still stored in the peat layers are completely extinguished. Although the surface flames have been brought under control, the cooling process cannot be halted. Thin smoke still has the potential to emerge from certain points due to embers beneath the peat surface. The situation is exacerbated by the absence of rain at the location since Monday (20/7), keeping moisture levels low.
Head of the Sumatra Forest Fire Control Centre, Ferdian Krisnanto, stated that the current fieldwork requires high levels of precision and patience. Personnel are not only dousing the surface but must also ensure that all peat layers retaining heat are thoroughly soaked. ‘This morning, four Manggala Agni teams are continuing operations in Pematang Pudu. Handling peatland fires takes time, precision, and patience because embers can survive below the ground surface. There was also no rain yesterday, so cooling efforts must be carried out to the maximum,’ Ferdian said on Tuesday.
He explained that every point with the potential to retain embers is being checked one by one. Officers are conducting repeated watering until no heat sources capable of reigniting the fire are found. Previously, the team also faced constraints due to increasingly limited water sources. In several locations, water is only available from small canals or ‘worm canals’, whose discharge continues to decrease due to the dry season. Personnel even had to clear mud deposits first so that water could be pumped to the fire area.
Based on previous aerial monitoring, the area affected by the fire in Pematang Pudu is estimated to have reached around 81 hectares. Currently, the focus of the operation is no longer on extinguishing visible flames, but on eliminating hidden embers within the peat layers to prevent new hotspots from emerging. He stressed that the team will remain at the location until the entire area is declared safe.