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Province sends out choppers to fight forest fires
The Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) deployed two helicopters to conduct water bombing operations in Pelalawan regency, where the majority of hotspots have been detected, to combat the resurgence of forest and peatland fires
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he Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) deployed two helicopters to conduct water bombing operations in Pelalawan regency, where the majority of hotspots have been detected, to combat the resurgence of forest and peatland fires.
Riau BPBD head Said Saqlul Amri said his agency was currently focusing on tackling the fires in Pelalawan regency since the fires had potentially caused heavy smog in the Riau capital of Pekanbaru.
The choppers are Sikorsky, which can carry loads of up to 3.5 tons, and Bolco, which is able to carry 500 liters of water.
'We will intensify the water bombing by using the Sikorsky because it can conduct 120 water bombing sorties, while the Bolco can only carry out 20. We will also use the Bolco to monitor and record hotspots,' Said said.
'Besides water bombing, we will continue to cloud seed. This time, there are two Cassa planes, which belong to the Army and the BPPT [Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, chaired by State Minister of Research and Technology], to plant two tons of salt in the clouds,' he added.
He said that BPBDs in 12 regencies/cities had also established teams to combat the fires.
'If they fail to manage the fires in their respective areas, BPBD Riau will take with our air taskforce team,' Said continued, saying that forest fires in Riau might still continue throughout the dry season.
'We found out that the fires apparently have engulfed new lands, not the same areas burned months ago,' Said said, calling on residents to not clear land with fires.
'This time around, we don't care who owns the lands. Once we tackle the problem, we will trace the land owners and bring them to justice.'
In Pekanbaru, the air quality index hit 170 on the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) on Wednesday. Normally the PSI range is between zero and 50.
Zainal Arifin from the Riau Health Agency said he had distributed 170,000 masks across the province to protect residents from the potentially serious health hazards of breathing in the toxic haze.
'Up until today, we have not yet received any reports of residents suffering from acute respiratory infections [ARIs],' said Zainal.
