Riau BPBD Deploys 2 Helicopters to Fight Forest and Land Fires

PEKANBARU - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Riau Province deployed two helicopters for water bombing to extinguish forest and land fires in Rokan Hulu and Rokan Hilir regencies from three hotspots.

"Based on reports received by BPBD Riau, three locations of forest and land fires occurred on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, namely in Teluk Piai and Kubu, Rokan Hilir (Rohil) and Tambusai Timur Regencies, Rokan Hulu Regency which were detected small", said Head of Riau Province BPBD, Edy Afrizal, in Pekanbaru was reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, October 11.

He said, judging from the position of the location where the fire occurred in the middle of a hilly area, it was difficult for the fire brigade team to access the location by land route.

Therefore, he said, two helicopters were dispatched to carry out a water bombing related to the fire location which was difficult to reach by road, especially in the hill area.

"Extinguishing the fire will be increasingly difficult to do by road because the location of the burned land is also far from water sources so efforts to extinguish fires on burned land must be carried out by air", he said.

In addition, said Edy, around the burned land there are community oil palm plantations, while the area of the burned land is yet to be ascertained. Meanwhile, firefighters are still trying to extinguish the fire.

The burned land, he said, was a non-concession area around the community's palm oil plantation.

"Once the blackout is complete, the burned area can only be measured", he said.