2,000 hectares of land burned in Riau until October 8 2023

PEKANBARU - Governor of Riau, Syamsuar, reported that from January to October 8, 2023, there were 2,169 fire points in the province, resulting in the destruction of 2,029.15 hectares of land due to forest and land fires (karhutla) in the region.

"Out of the 2,029.15 hectares of burned land in Riau, it is spread across various regencies and cities. Rokan Hulu Regency has 50.6 hectares of burned land, followed by Rokan Hilir Regency with 238 hectares," he said in a statement received in Pekanbaru on Monday.

In addition, the burned land includes 115.67 hectares in Dumai City, 398.29 hectares in Bengkalis, 39.05 hectares in Meranti, 50.06 hectares in Siak, 45.97 hectares in Pekanbaru, 193.09 hectares in Kampar, 261.73 hectares in Pelalawan, 349.34 hectares in Indragiri Hulu, 258.85 hectares in Indragiri Hilir, and 28.5 hectares in Kuantan Singingi Regency.

Based on the data from the Riau Provincial Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), he mentioned that there are currently no fire points in Sungai Raya and Sekip Hilir, Indragiri Hulu Regency, and cooling efforts are underway.

"The Riau Provincial Government continues its efforts to extinguish the fires by establishing and activating karhutla task forces at the provincial and regency/city levels, as well as field posts at karhutla locations," he stated.

In addition, all human resources and firefighting infrastructure resources, such as excavators, firefighting pump machines, hoses, operational vehicles, canal barriers, reservoirs, fire monitoring towers, and others, have been mobilized.

He also mentioned that they have allocated regular budgets and emergency response funds for fire prevention and suppression.

"The karhutla task forces are actively engaged in early detection through the Lancang Kuning dashboard application, Sipakar Riau, Sipongi KLHK, as well as BMKG hotspot monitoring," he added.

Furthermore, they have strengthened the Riau karhutla task forces with two patrol helicopters (PK-RTX and PK-ZGD), two water bombing helicopters (C-FIZA and N332N), and one TMC aircraft (Pilatus PC-6).

"We need to continue monitoring the wind direction, which potentially carries smoke from the southeast to the northwest-north, affecting the regions of Riau, Malaysia, and Singapore. We are tirelessly working to control karhutla in Riau, with a potential workforce of 17,764 personnel ready to be deployed as needed," said Syamsuar.

Article Source : Antaranews