Hundreds of hectares burned, joint team fights to extinguish fire in Riau

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) continues to intensify efforts to extinguish forest and land fires (karhutla) in a number of areas in Riau and Riau Islands Provinces to prevent the spread of the fire point.

The Forest Fire Control Center (Dalkarhut) for Sumatra Region said that the Manggala Agni team from four Operations Regions (Daops) had been deployed, namely Daops Sumatra V / Dumai, Daops Sumatra VI / Siak, Daops Sumatra VII / Rengat, and Daops Sumatra VIII / Batam.

"The Manggala Agni team from four Daops in Riau and Riau Islands has been deployed to carry out the blackout in Pelalawan Regency, Bengkalis Regency, Siak Regency, Rokan Hilir Regency, and Batam City," said Head of the Regional Dalkarhut Office for Sumatra Ferdian Krisnanto in a statement confirmed from Jakarta, Antara, Wednesday, February 11.

According to Ferdian, the team in the field continues to move together with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the fire point does not spread further.

In Pelalawan Regency, a fire occurred in Teluk Beringin Village, Mendol Island. The Manggala Agni Daops VII/Rengat team from Sumatra together with BPBD Pelalawan, the National Police, the Fire Care Society (MPA), and firefighters are still trying to put out the fire that has devoured hundreds of hectares of land and almost burned down an island.

Initial information from the community said that the fire on Mendol Island was allegedly triggered by land preparation activities, which were exacerbated by strong winds that damaged the residents' coconut groves.

"Mendol Island is one of the important coconut producing areas in Pelalawan Regency and also the outermost area close to neighboring countries. Therefore, we continue to deploy personnel and equipment so that the fire can be extinguished immediately and the impact on the environment and community can be minimized," said Ferdian.

Meanwhile, in Bengkalis Regency, the Manggala Agni Daops Sumatera VI/Siak team together with MPA managed to extinguish a 10-hectare forest fire in Sepahat Village on Sunday, February 8. In Tanjung Leban Village, the joint team involving the TNI, Polri, PT Bukit Batu Hutani Alam Fire Service, and the Disaster Care Community is still blocking and extinguishing so that the fire does not spread.

In Siak Regency, forest fires in Mempura Village were also successfully controlled. The Manggala Agni Daops team of Sumatra VI/Siak together with the National Police, BPBD Siak, and local people are now focusing on putting out the remaining embers and cooling the burned material to prevent the fire from re-igniting.

Meanwhile, in Rokan Hilir Regency, the Manggala Agni Daops Sumatera V/Dumai team is still struggling to put out fires in Rantau Bais Village. Efforts are focused on extinguishing the source of fire in the peat area which has limited water sources and is difficult to reach. This area has also previously experienced a major fire in 2025 which burned thousands of hectares of land.

Karhutla also occurred in the Riau Islands Province, specifically in Kibing Village, Batam City. The Manggala Agni Daops Team of Sumatra VIII/Batam together with the Batam Unit II Protected Forest Management Unit and farmers are trying to put out the fire in the Tiban Protected Forest area.

Ferdian emphasized that the achievement of reducing the area of fires and the potential for smoke disasters in recent years must continue to be maintained. In addition to extinguishing, intensive patrols are also carried out to prevent the emergence of new fire points, given the dry and windy weather conditions.