Four Forest and Land Fire Hotspots Still Being Extinguished in Riau

Forest and land fires (karhutla) in Riau Province continue to increase. As of Monday (3/8), the joint team was still conducting firefighting operations at four locations: two in Pelalawan Regency and two in Indragiri Hulu (Inhu) Regency.

The head of the Sumatra Forest Fire Control Centre (Dalkarhut), Ferdian Krisnanto, said these four locations are currently the focus of extinguishing operations carried out by Manggala Agni.

“We are updating the locations where firefighting is currently being carried out by Manggala Agni. There are four locations in Pelalawan and Inhu,” Ferdian said on Monday (3/8).

He explained that the firefighting operations are being carried out by the Manggala Agni Rengat Operational Area. In Pelalawan Regency, firefighting is under way in Kerumutan Kelurahan, Kerumutan Subdistrict, and Mak Teduh Village, Kerumutan Subdistrict, each handled by one team.

Meanwhile, in Indragiri Hulu Regency, one team has been deployed to Paya Rumbai Village in Seberida Subdistrict, and another team to Sungai Guntung Hilir Village in Rengat Subdistrict.

In addition to firefighting on the ground, the forest fire task force, coordinated by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), has also begun weather modification operations (OMC) to increase the potential for rain and prevent the fires from spreading.

“The OMC is currently being carried out as well. The first sortie is targeting the Pelalawan and Indragiri Hilir areas using a Cessna Caravan aircraft,” he said.