BPBD Riau Extinguishes Fires in 3 Areas

Illustration of the forest fire extinguishing activity in Riau. ANTARA/HO-Manggala Agni

JAKARTA - The Regional Disaster Management and Fire Service (BPBD Damkar) of Riau Province has made efforts to extinguish forest and land fires (karhutla) in three areas, namely in Bengkalis Regency, Kampar, and Dumai City.

Head of Emergency BPBD Damkar Riau Jim Gafur said that for Karhutla in Dumai City, it was reported that there were two points in Bagan Keladi Village, West Dumai District and Tanjung Palas Village in East Dumai District.

"Currently, the joint team is still making efforts to extinguish it," he said, quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, February 26.

For karhutla in Bengkalis Regency, it was reported that there were three points, namely in Sukarjo Mesim Village, Rupat District, then Sekodi Village in Bengkalis District, and Tanjung Leban Village in Bandar Laksamana District.

Then in Kampar Regency, he continued, there was one point, namely in Rimbo Panjang Village, Tambang District. In the blackout, the district/city BPBD, TNI-Polri, Manggala Agni, the Fire Care Society, and also the company parties were involved.

"Currently, Riau has set the emergency alert status for karhutla. It is hoped that the handling of karhutla in Riau can be more optimal," he hoped.

Meanwhile, for the implementation of the Weather Modification Operation (OMC) in Riau continues to be carried out. OMC has sown 14 sorties of flights or 14 tons of salt in the Riau sky.

It is known that based on the detection of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Pekanbaru Station on Thursday (26/2) afternoon there were 14 hot spots. In that number it is spread across Bengkalis Regency (12), Pelalawan (1), and Inderagiri Hilir (1).