T

hegovernment finally declared a state of emergency in Riau starting on Friday followingworsening haze from forest fires in three regencies and municipalitiesin the province.

Thehaze is from forest fires in the regencies of Bengkalis and Rokan Hilirand Dumai City.

'€œThePresident has instructed the National Disaster Mitigation Agency [BNPB]to take over fire extinguishing efforts in Riau, starting on Friday,'€ the BNPB emergency response director TriBudiarto said on Friday.

Theagency said it had deployed two helicopters on Friday tospray water from the air and one aircraft for cloud seeding efforts inthe burning areas, starting on Saturday.

RiauDeputy Governor Mambang Mit added that cloud seeding efforts would bethe last solution because the conventional techniques had met difficultiesextinguishing the fires.

'€œTheweather conditions, which are very dry and windy, and the locations offires, which are inaccessible to vehicles, have slowed efforts to putout the fires. The only solution is cloud seeding,'€ he said.

Hesaid that the Riau administration was currently investigating the involvementof some firms in the forest fires.

He didnot deny the fact that in the previous years a number of plantationcompanies made use of the dry weather to clear their areas for planting.

'€œTheauthorities will take strong measures against them if there is enough evidence,'€he said, adding that the legal process would be handled by the police.

Accordingthe data from the Forestry Ministry, the total areas gutted by the fireshave reached 3,709 hectares in 10 out 12 regencies and municipalities inRiau, where Rokan Hilir and Bengkalis have been the most heavilyaffected. (hrl)