Joint Officers Do Forest And Land Fire Cooling In Inhil And Inhu Riau

PEKANBARU - Joint officers are still carrying out the cooling process after forest and land fires (karhutla) occurred in Pancur Village, Keritang District, Indragiri Regency, downstream (Inhil) and Indragiri upstream (Inhu), Riau.

"Until now, joint officers are still struggling to extinguish the fire from the ground and extinguish the fire at this location is also carried out by air by water bombing helicopter," said Head of the Riau Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) M. Edi Afrizal in his statement quoted by ANTARA, Monday, September 4.

He said ground and air officers were extinguishing the fire and the fire had been successfully controlled but it was still not in total, so officers still had to do the watering.

Moreover, at the location of the burned land, it is said to be peatland, so the blackout must be total, because peatlands are usually not visible from the surface of the ground.

"Although in plain view there is no visible fire on the ground, underground it can leave fire coal at any time and it can spread if the fire is not completely extinguished. If the strong wind of the fire is easily growing, even though it has been extinguished if smoke is still in the process of cooling, it will still be carried out," he said.

He explained that the same condition also occurred in Indragiri Hulu (Inhu) Regency or in Batang Cenaku Village. Officers are also still cooling down the location.

Even though the fire had been extinguished, the smoke was still rising, so the officers continued to cool until the fire was completely extinguished.

Forecaster on BMKG Pekanbaru Yasir Prayuna said rain forecasts with light to moderate intensity still have the potential to flush the local area.

Rain will begin to pour Riau in the afternoon and early morning. Rain is uneven only occurs in parts of Riau.

"However, at night the potential for light to moderate rain occurs in some areas of Kampar Regency. Then, at night the same potential also occurs in Siak, Bengkalis, Rokan Hulu, Rokan Hilir, Pekanbaru and Dumai Regencies," he said.

In the early morning the potential for rain occurred in parts of Kampar, Siak, Bengkalis, Rokan Hulu, Rokan Hilir and Pekanbaru regencies.

"Riau air temperature today is at 23.0 34.0 degC with 45 98 percent humidity. Meanwhile, the wind direction blows to the south-southwest at a speed of 10 30 km/hour. The forecast wave height in Riau Province waters ranges from 0.50 1.25 meters," he said.