Joint Team Still Fighting to Put Out Karhutla in 5 Riau Regions

Illustration: the Manggala Agni team is extinguishing a fire in Pelalawan Regency. ANTARA/HO-Manggala Agni

JAKARTA - The joint team is still struggling to put out forest and land fires (karhutla) in five areas in Riau Province, while the other three areas are in a state of being extinguished but are still in the cooling phase.

Head of Emergency and Logistics of the Regional Disaster Management and Fire Service Agency (BPBD Damkar) of Riau Province, Jim Gafur, said that in handling the karhutla until March 15, the fire point was still monitored in eight areas.

"First, there were two points of fire in Bengkalis Regency. The first was in Teluk Lecah Village, Rupat District, Bengkalis. The condition still has a fire point and is being extinguished," he said as reported by ANTARA, Monday, March 16.

Then another point in Bengkalis is in the village of East Tasik Serai, Pinggir District, with the current condition that the fire point has been completely extinguished.

Furthermore, in Pelalawan Regency, he said, there was still one fire point in Pangkalan Terap Village, Teluk Meranti District, with the current condition there were still fire points and extinguishing was carried out.

For the city of Dumai, he continued, there were two fire points, namely in the Teluk Makmur Village, Medang Kampai District, with the condition that there were still smoke points and were being extinguished and cooled.

"The second is in Mundam Village, Medang Kampai District. The condition still has a point of smoke, cooling is carried out," he said.

In addition, there is also a fire point in Rokan Hilir Regency in Kepenghuluan Rantau Bais, Tanah putih District. Currently, there are still fire points and they are being extinguished and blocked to prevent the fire from spreading.

Another fire was one point in Bekawan Dalam Village, Parit Hidayat, Mandah District, with the condition of the fire point having been extinguished and cooling was carried out. Kampar Regency also has one point in Rimbo Panjang Village, Tambang District, with the condition of the fire having been completely extinguished.

His party has been on standby with air operation facilities in the form of three patrol helicopters from two National Disaster Management Agencies (BNPB) and one from the Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) RI.