Riau Forest Fire Handling: Hotspots Decrease, Focus on Peatland Cooling

Forest and land fire suppression operations in Riau Province are showing positive progress. The synergy of a joint team involving ground personnel and water bombing helicopter support has successfully extinguished a number of hotspots, while other locations are now entering the cooling phase. Based on data from the Riau Forest and Land Fire Handling Task Force as of Friday (7/8), the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) detected 25 hotspots spread across the Riau region. The distribution of these hotspots includes nine points in Indragiri Hulu Regency, nine points in Dumai City, three points in Indragiri Hilir Regency, two points in Rokan Hulu Regency, and one point each in Kuantan Singingi Regency and Rokan Hilir Regency. The Head of the Emergency Division of the Riau Regional Disaster Management Agency and Fire Department, Jim Ghafur, stressed that all task force personnel remain on standby. The main focus currently is anticipating potential fires on peatlands, which carry the risk of storing embers beneath the surface. “Several locations have been successfully extinguished and others are only leaving thin smoke. However, officers are still carrying out cooling and monitoring so that the fire does not reappear, especially on peatlands which have the potential to store embers below the surface,” said Jim Ghafur on Saturday (8/8). Jim explained that fluctuating weather conditions and wind direction remain the main challenges in field handling efforts. Therefore, all elements of the Riau Province Forest and Land Fire Task Force remain on full alert. For locations that still have active hotspots, such as in Sungai Guntung Hilir (Rengat) and Pasir Limau Kapas, intensive extinguishing continues with the support of water bombing helicopters. “Our target is that the fire can be completely extinguished soon so that it does not spread to other areas,” he added. The Riau Provincial Government together with the Forest and Land Fire Task Force continue to urge the public not to clear land by burning. Residents are also asked to immediately report indications of fire to officers to accelerate early handling in the field.