Riau Forest and Land Fires Spread to Eight Locations, Burned Area Reaches 783 Hectares
Peatland forest and land fires (Karhutla) in Riau Province continue to spread due to extreme hot weather conditions and the El Niño effect. As of Thursday (20/8), the estimated area of land burned across eight different locations has surged to 783 hectares (ha).
Head of the Sumatra Forest Fire Control Centre (Dalkarhut), Ferdian Krisnanto, stated that the figure is a field estimate which will be further verified using satellite imagery. Currently, the frequency of fires in the Sumatra region is indeed increasing, particularly in Riau and South Sumatra (Sumsel).
“For South Sumatra, Manggala Agni personnel from Jambi have been on BKO (operational control) duty for almost 15 days now. The Air Pollutant Standard Index (ISPU) in Pekanbaru and Palembang is a concern because of its fluctuating and dynamic conditions,” said Ferdian.
In Kampar Regency, the Manggala Agni team from the Pekanbaru Operations Unit is currently handling three fire hotspots. The locations include Rimbo Panjang Village (4.5 ha) and Pagaruyung Village (10 ha), which are designated as Other Use Areas (APL), as well as the Buluh Cina Nature Tourism Park (TWA) in Pangkalan Baru Village (8 ha).
In addition to Kampar, a major fire has also occurred in Kerumutan Sub-district, Pelalawan Regency, with an estimated area reaching 300 hectares. Additional teams are currently being prepared to reinforce Manggala Agni personnel from the Siak and Rengat Operations Units who have been at the location for the past two days.
The largest fire hotspot is located in Sei Guntung Hilir Village, Rengat District, Indragiri Hulu Regency, reaching 434.35 hectares. At this location, Manggala Agni officers from the Rengat Operations Unit have entered their 18th day of firefighting and are now carrying out the mopping up or cooling down phase to ensure the fire is completely extinguished.
Other affected locations include Pangkalan Libut Village in Bengkalis Regency covering 20 hectares, Mengkapan Village in Siak Regency covering 3.5 hectares, and Penyaguan Village in Indragiri Hulu covering 3 hectares. Ferdian emphasised that teams in the field continue to work hard to contain and fully extinguish the fires to prevent them from spreading further across the peatland.