Riau Meranti Islands Forest And Land Embedded Into Vegetable Lands With A Capai Area Of 40 Hectares

Karhutla on Rangsang Island, Meranti Islands, Riau was monitored by air using the Manggala Agni Team KLHK-BPBD Riau helicopter. (ANTARA/HO-BPBD Riau Province)

JAKARTA - Forest and land fires (Karhutla) in Meranti Islands Regency, Riau Province are increasingly widespread. Currently, the fire is starting to spread to shrub vegetation in a number of villages on Rangsang Island, which covers more than 40 hectares.

The Head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Meranti Islands Regency, Muhlisin, said that there were five points of forest and land fires that occurred on Rangsang Island, namely in Telesung Village, Pengyagun, Gayung Kiri River, Renak Dungun and the border in Mantiasa.

He could not confirm the extent of the fire as a whole but for two points, namely in Telesung Village and Pengyagun it is estimated to reach 40 hectares.

"The area of forest and land fires which reaches 40 hectares at these two points shows that the situation is quite serious and requires quick and effective handling," he said in Maranti, Sunday, March 24, which was confiscated by Antara.

He said his team together with joint TNI and Polri personnel as well as the community are currently continuing to carry out extinguishing and cooling efforts at the hotspots. His party works intensively to limit the spread of fires and ensure fires do not spread to wider areas.

He revealed that the fire that ignited from Karhutla that burned the bush was also visible at night. He said this condition needed immediate treatment to extinguish the fire, because it was currently in extreme heat.

"Currently the weather is entering the summer. The BPBD fire team cannot relax. We continue to monitor the land for 24 hours after it caught fire, even though what caught fire was a bush vegetation. We don't want the tragedy of severe smog a few years ago to repeat itself," said Muhlisin.

Based on the monitoring of the Pekanbaru Station Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, there are 79 hotspots in Riau, Sunday. Most are in Meranti Islands Regency 34 points and Dumai City 27.