Difficulty Officers Put Out 70 Hectare Forest Fires In Dumai Riau

Illustration of forest fires (ANTARA)

PEKANBARU - Joint officers continue to try to extinguish forest and land fires (karhutla) on the border of Dumai City and Bengkalis Regency, Riau Province, so as not to spread and cause smoke pollution.

Dumai Police Chief AKBP Nurhadi Ismanto when met in Pekanbaru, Thursday, said the land burned more than 70 hectares in the last two weeks, even conditions tended to increase as strong winds and the heat of the beam.

To this day, joint officers are still cooling down. Previously, the fire was extinguished, but it was widened again due to strong winds. The location of the fire is peatlands with a depth of around 2-6 meters so that the fire is not easily extinguished.

"This is the 15th day we are cooling down the forest and land fires in the Dumai area. Currently, it is only smoke, although yesterday it had risen again due to strong winds and hot weather up to 37 degrees," he told the media crew, quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, May 4.

To prevent the wider land burned, he said, the Karhutla Task Force consisting of the TNI, Polri, BPBD, Manggala Agni and the private sector had dug a 2 meter wide ditch so that the fire would not spread.

"Last night seven hotspots were detected at the same location, but this morning it was nil," he continued.

He said that from the temporary investigation the land belonged to the farmer group. His party has examined the head of the farmer group, but it is not certain the boundaries belonging to the group.

"We are still investigating this, but the names have been recorded and will be checked all of them," said Nurhadi.

In addition to extinguishing from land, fire control efforts were also carried out using helicopters that vomited water around the forest and land fires location.