Forest Fires Shift to Southern Sumatra as Riau Sees Reprieve
Forest and land fires (karhutla), which in recent months have frequently struck northern Sumatra regions such as Riau, North Sumatra and Aceh, are now occurring more in the southern part of the island, particularly Jambi and South Sumatra (Sumsel).
“Riau is safe. The fires are moving south, to Jambi and South Sumatra,” said Ferdian Krisnanto, head of the Sumatra Forest Fire Control Centre (Dalkarhut), to Media Indonesia on Wednesday (29 July).
He explained that Manggala Agni teams are still battling fires in a number of areas in Jambi and South Sumatra. In fact, fire-response operations in South Sumatra can occur as many as six times in a single day.
“There can be six response operations a day in South Sumatra,” he stated.
He also highlighted the outcome of a palace meeting on karhutla, which included plans for weather modification operations (OMC), or artificial rain, to be carried out by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in several fire-affected areas. He expressed hope that the plan would not merely serve as an excuse to launch new projects.
“Hopefully it will not become some miraculous new project,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, the latest satellite monitoring recorded 406 hotspots across Sumatra, dominated by South Sumatra with 162. Deby C, forecaster on duty at BMKG Pekanbaru, said that besides South Sumatra, Aceh recorded 70 hotspots, followed by West Sumatra with 57, Jambi with 33, Bengkulu with 28, Lampung with 26, Bangka Belitung with 22, Riau with seven, and North Sumatra with one.
“The seven hotspots in Riau were detected in Dumai City with three points. Then Kampar, Bengkalis, Kuantan Singingi (Kuansing) and Indragiri Hilir (Inhil) regencies each recorded one hotspot,” she explained.
She revealed that there is still a chance of rain in several parts of Riau. Therefore, the public is urged to remain vigilant against the potential for extreme weather from late evening into the early hours.
“And to avoid land-burning activities that could trigger karhutla,” she concluded.