Riau Fire Department Works to Extinguish Forest and Land Fires in Bengkalis, Kampar, and Dumai

The joint team is still carrying out efforts to extinguish the fires. The Riau Provincial Disaster Management and Fire Department (BPBD Damkar) is working to extinguish forest and land fires (karhutla) in three areas: Bengkalis Regency, Kampar Regency, and Dumai City.

The Head of the Emergency Division of the Riau BPBD Damkar, Jim Gafur, said that the karhutla in Dumai City was reported in two locations, namely in the Bagan Keladi Village, West Dumai District, and the Tanjung Palas Village in the East Dumai District.

“Currently, the joint team is still carrying out efforts to extinguish the fires,” he said in Pekanbaru, Thursday.

For the karhutla in Bengkalis Regency, there are three locations, namely in the Sukarjo Mesim Village, Rupat District, then the Sekodi Village in the Bengkalis District, and the Tanjung Leban Village in the Bandar Laksamana District.

“Currently, Riau has declared a state of emergency regarding karhutla. It is hoped that the handling of karhutla in Riau can be even more effective,” he said.

Meanwhile, the implementation of the Weather Modification Operation (OMC) in Riau continues. The OMC has carried out 14 flights or seeded 14 tons of salt in the Riau sky.

It is known that based on the detection of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Pekanbaru Station on Thursday (February 26) afternoon, there were 14 hotspots. Of that number, they were spread across Bengkalis Regency (12), Pelalawan (1), and Inderagiri Hilir (1).