Forest And Land Fires In Riau Expand, Third Phase Weather Modification Begins

Illustration of forest fires (ANTARA)

The Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) in collaboration with various other institutions will carry out a third phase of weather modification operation (OMC) to control forest and land fires (karhutla) in Riau.

The Director General of Law Enforcement (Gakkum Kemenhut), Dwi Januanto Nugroho explained that the Ministry of Transportation together with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), the Riau Province Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), and the Indonesian Air Force officially opened the third phase of OMC in Riau Province.

"This OMC is a strategic step in the extension of the Emergency Response to Forest and Land Fires that have been set by the Riau Provincial Government. This operation will be carried out for the next 10 days with funding support from the Ministry of Forestry," Dwi said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, August 12.

He said the implementation of the OMC was also a follow-up to the direction of the Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni, to strengthen efforts to prevent forest and land fires through quick, collaborative, and measurable steps.

The Riau Provincial Government has previously established an emergency response status for forest and land fires from July 22 to August 4, 2025 through the Decree of the Governor of Riau Number 682 of 2025. Based on the evaluation of the Disaster Task Force, this status was extended for the first time for two weeks.

Responding to this, he said, countermeasures were strengthened, both through ground extinguishing operations by the Manggala Agni of the Ministry of Law and the Riau Province Karhutla Control Task Force, as well as air operations including air patrols, water bombings, and OMC.

The first phase of OMC has been carried out on May 2-12 2025, then the second stage on July 21-9 August 2025 with funding support from BNPB. Based on rainfall monitoring, during that period Rokan Hilir Regency experienced 5 days of rain, and Rokan Hulu Regency 8 days.

The third phase of OMC is planned to last for 10 days supported by funding from the Ministry of Forestry, through the Directorate General of Forestry Law Enforcement in collaboration with the Deputy for BMKG Weather Modification.

Data from the Ministry of Transportation shows that throughout July 2025 there were 142 forest and land fires in Riau with an estimated area of 1,768.01 hectares. Meanwhile, until August 9, 2025, there were an additional 93 incidents with an area of about 1,150.60 hectares.

Currently, the Manggala Agni Kemenhut troops are reportedly still carrying out out outages and cooling up operations in the Indragiri Hilir and Rokan Hilir areas.

"The Ministry of Forestry remains highly committed to controlling forest and land fires, either through land and air management, with a strong spirit of collaboration and synergy. With all our efforts and prayers, hopefully the forest and land fires disaster in Riau will be controlled soon," said Dwi Januanto Nugroho.