The Hard Work Of BPBD, Police And Related Parties, Targets In One Day Extinguishing Forest And Land Fires In The Meranti Islands, Riau

MERANTI - The local government and resort police in the Meranti Islands Regency, Riau Islands Province, are on standby to deal with forest and land fires.

The Chief Executive of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Meranti Islands Regency, Rizki Hidayat, said that circulars regarding increasing awareness of the potential for forest and land fires from July to August 2022 had been submitted to the sub-districts.

BPBD together with the TNI, Polri, and the Fire Care Society (MPA) have developed a strategy for preventing and overcoming forest and land fires.

"We can extinguish the forest and land fires in a maximum of one day, especially deep peatlands. If left unchecked, it can be difficult to handle," said Rizki in the Meranti Islands, Antara, Tuesday, July 26.

The BPBD and the Resort Police have also checked the readiness of personnel as well as facilities and infrastructure to support efforts to combat forest and land fires.

"For equipment, all are in good condition and ready to be used in case of forest fires. We are also working on adding fire extinguishers. Hopefully this will be realized quickly," he said. "So is the BPBD personnel. The current total is 38 personnel," he added.

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In addition, he said, BPBD had activated posts for forest and land fire prevention and sent circulars to companies to increase vigilance.

Rizki also explained that forest and land fires occurred in all sub-districts in the Meranti Islands in 2022, but the average area of ​​land burned was less than five hectares.

Meanwhile, Head of the Meranti Islands Police AKBP Andi Yul LTG in Selatpanjang, Tuesday, said that the police had deployed officers to help deal with land fires that had occurred in several villages in recent days.

"In terms of extinguishing forest and land fires, we certainly collaborate with the BPBD as the command, the TNI, the village government, and the existing MPA. With this joint movement we can quickly extinguish the fire if a fire occurs," he said.

In addition, he said, the police mobilized officers to carry out patrols and provide counseling regarding efforts to prevent and control forest and land fires.