6 Helicopters Alerted To Handle Forest And Land Fires In Riau

The Commander of Roesmin Nurjadin Air Base Pekanbaru Marsma TNI Mohammad Nurdin who is also the forest and land fire task force team (PHOTO ANTARA/Annisa Firdausi)

Six PekanbarU Roesmin Nurjadin (RSN) Pekanbaru Airfield helicopters, Riau, were alerted for patrols and "water bombings" related to the handling of forest and land fires (karhutla) which has been rife in recent times.

The Commander of the Pekanbaru Hospital, Marsma TNI, Mohammad Nurdin, said that as an air task force in handling forest and land fires, his party prioritized anticipatory steps.

He explained that the six existing helicopters carried out two tasks, namely patrols to see firsthand the point in the event of a fire.

"Second, also for 'water bombing', pouring fire when confirmed the land does need extinguishing by air," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, July 29.

His party puts forward anticipatory steps. Because based on his experience, extinguishing the fire is more difficult than identifying the hotspots.

"We hope that this method can be effective and ensure that we can avoid forest and land fires, especially in the Riau area," he said.

In addition, the efforts of weather modification technology are one of the most effective options for the mitigation phase.

"We hope that the mechanism can run and can produce weather modification technology as soon as necessary," he said.

In the past month, the most hotspots are known to be in Rokan Hulu, Rokan Hilir and Bengkalis. During the period from January 1 to July 10, 2023, forest and land areas burned in the Riau Province were more than 818 hectares according to provincial government data.

Forest and land areas burned during that period were scattered in Bengkalis (337.48 ha), Dumai (100.57 ha), Indragiri Hilir (47.57 ha), Indragiri Hulu (24.80 ha), Kampar (46.99 ha).

Then Meranti (12.75 ha), Kuantan Singingi (2 ha), Pelalawan (37.18 ha), Rokan Hilir (135.5 ha), Rokan Hulu (35.5 ha), Siak (22.35 ha), and Pekanbaru (18.5 ha).