Forest Fires in Riau Reach 16,500 Hectares

Pekanbaru, Riau (Antara) - Forest fires in Riau Province from the period of June 1 to 26 reached 16,500 hectares of area, Riau Province's Chief of Forestry Office Zulkufki Yusuf said here on Friday. "We have kept updating the data. The number of forest area on fire maybe increasing," he said. According to recent data from the local forestry service, there are six areas which have the most number of its forest area on fire namely Bengkalis District (6,300 hectares), Rokan Hilir (6,195 hectares), Rokan Hulu (900 hectares), Siak (892 hectares), Indragiri Hulu (510 hectares) and Pelalawan (250 hectares). Apart from that, Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau Province, is also experiencing forest fires with four hectares of its area being burnt. Earlier spokesman to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Agus Wibowo said the number of hot spots that caused forest fires in several locations in Riau Province has been decreasing from 50 last week to only 19. According to a recent survey by the agency, most of the existing hot spots are located in Pelalawan District and Dumai. "Our focus now is on extinguishing forest fires in the two areas. Today four choppers will be deployed to Pelalawan district and Dumai city to initiate water bomb above the area," he said. The government has allocated Rp100 billion for making artificial rains, procuring materials and providing planes to conduct water bombing to fight forest and land fires in Riau Province. (*) Reporting by FB Anggoro Translating and Editing by Amie Fenia Arimbi