Riau receives additional support of one water-bombing helicopter from BNPB

Pekanbaru - The Riau Provincial Government has received additional support in the form of one water-bombing helicopter from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), which is being directly utilised for handling forest and land fires (Karhutla) in Dumai City. The Head of the Regional Disaster Management and Firefighting Agency (BPBDPK) of Riau, M Edy Afrizal, through the Head of Emergency and Logistics Division Jim Gafur, stated that the water-bombing helicopter is of the Airbus AS332C1 Super Puma Reg PK-DAN type. “One water-bombing helicopter aid from BNPB has arrived in Riau. The helicopter is immediately being used to extinguish the Karhutla in Dumai City,” he said in Pekanbaru on Friday. Jim Gafur conveyed that there are still five hotspots of Karhutla in Dumai City. The helicopter is deployed to Mundam Kelurahan, Medang Kampai Subdistrict, where there are still fire points and thick smoke, thus aerial firefighting and cooling are being carried out. Additionally, there are fires in Tanjung Palas Kelurahan, Dumai Timur Subdistrict, amounting to three points. The current condition still has fire points and thick smoke, so both ground and aerial firefighting are being conducted. Fires are also monitored in Teluk Makmur Kelurahan, Medang Kampai Subdistrict, but the current condition is only thin smoke and cooling has already been performed. He stated that in other areas of Riau, namely Pelalawan Regency, there are two fire points. The first is in Merbau Village, Bunut Subdistrict, where the condition still has fire points. Additionally, in Pulau Muda Village, Teluk Meranti Subdistrict, firefighting is still ongoing. Then in Siak Regency, Tasik Betung Village, Sungai Mandau Subdistrict, there is still a fire point and thick smoke. Additionally, in Sekip Hilir Village, Rengat Subdistrict, Indragiri Hulu Regency, there is also still one fire point. “In Indragiri Hilir Regency, in Simpang Kateman Village, Pelangiran Subdistrict, the condition still has one fire point and smoke, so firefighting and cooling are being carried out,” he explained. Currently, aerial operation facilities consist of two patrol helicopters. Consisting of one helicopter each from the Ministry of Forestry and BNPB, as well as the additional one water-bombing helicopter from BNPB that has just arrived.