PEKANBARU - The Regional Disaster Management and Fire Service (BPBD Damkar) of Riau has submitted a request for weather modification technology (TMC) and helicopter water bombing to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) to overcome forest and land fires.
Head of Emergency BPBD Damkar Riau Jim Gafur said the TMC activity is expected to increase rainfall in Riau. Because, based on information from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, current rainfall in Riau has begun to decrease.
"In February, rainfall will begin to decrease, especially in coastal areas. Therefore, we will apply for TMC assistance," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, February 9.
In addition to submitting the TMC, his party will apply for helicopter water bombing assistance. This helicopter is very needed to extinguish forest and land fires (karhutla) that are difficult to reach by land teams.
However, before applying for this assistance, his party must first determine the emergency standby status for forest and land fires. Currently, his party is still waiting for the determination from the district/city level first.
"Before applying for assistance, we must first determine the emergency standby status of karhutla. If there are districts/cities that have set it, then the provincial level status will be determined," he said.
Meanwhile, there are still five areas that have experienced forest fires. The five areas are Bengkalis Regency, Meranti Islands, Siak, Pelalawan, and Dumai City.
For karhutla in the five regions, so far it is still in the stage of extinguishing and cooling. In carrying out the extinguishing, the team in the field also received assistance from the private sector.
"Currently, forest fires are still occurring in Bengkalis, Meranti, Siak, Pelalawan, and Dumai," he said.
Today, 80 hotspots were detected in Riau Province. The most hotspots are in Pelalawan Regency (54), Indragiri Hilir (10), Siak (6), Dumai City (4), Bengkalis (4), and Rokan Hilir (1).
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