Joint Officers Put Out Forest And Land Fires In Dumai

PEKANBARU - Joint officers consisting of the TNI, Polri, Manggala Agni, the Riau Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) and the local community managed to extinguish forest and land fires (karhutla) in Gurun Panjang Village, Bukit Kapur District, Dumai.

"The forest and land fires in the Panjang Desert, Dumai have been extinguished, it's just a puff of smoke. Officers have not been withdrawn, they are still at the location to cool down and ensure that no more fire coal is left," said Head of the Riau BPBD Emergency Division, Jim Ghofur, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, July 31.

According to him, the fire of forest and land fires in the Panjang Desert has been extinguished, but currently there are still two areas left that have been hit by forest and land fires, namely Rokan Hilir and Pelalawan Regencies.

Officers are still struggling to extinguish the fire in Teluk Bano Village, Bangko Pusako District and in Rantau Bais Village, Tanah Putih District, Rokan Hilir Regency (Rohil).

"In one area, the fire has spread at several points, so it needs hard work to extinguish it. Moreover, the location of forest and land fires is difficult to reach from land so that water boom helicopters have also been deployed to locations to help extinguish the air," he said.

Apart from Rohil, he said, forest and land fires were also found in Pelalawan Regency or in Kuala Kampar. Currently, forest and land fires in Kuala Kampar are still in the process of being extinguished by joint officers and "water booming" helicopters have also been deployed there.

Previously, Riau Governor Syamsuar appealed to the public not to open land by burning because of the potential for forest and land fires. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) informed that the local area had a dry drought until September 2023.

"Riau is still hit by dry season until September 2023. Let's not burn the land," said Syamsuar.