Riau Provincial Government Proposes Water Bombing Helicopter Assistance To Put Out The Fire

PeKANBARU - Riau Provincial Government submitted a request for assistance from six water bomber helicopters and two patrol planes to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) to anticipate forest and land fires (karhutla) that are widespread in the area.

"The request for helicopter assistance has been submitted to BNPB and is currently in process," said Head of the Riau Province Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), M Edy Afrizald, quoted by ANTARA, Friday, March 29.

He said that currently the dominant Riau coastal areas with peatlands have experienced fires, such as in Bengkalis Regency, Meranti Islands, Pelalawan, and Dumai City.

Officers from the local land forest and land fire task force (task force) team are still trying hard to extinguish the fire and cool down.

"For burned areas that are close to water sources, they can still be controlled by the ground team, but at locations of fires that are difficult to access by land and minimal water sources, they certainly need the company's water bombing helicopter (water bomb) assistance," he said.

He said the BNPB had scheduled mid-April 2024 for artificial rain in Riau using weather modification technology (TMC) to anticipate the expansion of the forest and land fires.

Jim said that TMC is needed to help reduce artificial rain and wet peatlands in Riau because since the last few weeks the area has been minimized by rain along with the dry season so that forests are prone to fire.

"Now the number of areas in Riau with emergency alert status of forest and land fires continues to grow, even the latest is Meranti Islands Regency and there are four regions in Riau that have set the same alert status, while forest and land fires that are still in the process of extinguishing are in Dumai and Meranti," he said.