Riau Wildfire Destroys Over 40 Hectares of Land
Jakarta. While the Indonesian capital is batting floods due to heavy rains, weather conditions elsewhere in the country are fueling massive wildfires — destroying at least 40 hectares of forest and farm land in Riau's Bengkalis district.
The firefighting unit head of the Bengkalis Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Suiswantoro, told news portal Tempo.co that the fire was likely set off intentionally.
"In the area, we saw attempts at land clearing and trees that had been cut down," Suiswantoro said. "But it is hard to determine who started the fire before further investigation."
Weather conditions in Bengkalis were hot, dry and windy, causing the flames to spread rapidly.
To help extinguish a wildfire that started on Jan. 13, the BPDD has deployed 124 firefighting teams to eight affected subdistricts. The firefighting teams worked alongside 100 firefighters employed by local firms and 40 police officers. "Local firms also helped us build fire-stopping partitions using heavy-lifting equipment," Suiswantoro said.
While the disaster management agency has succeeded in extinguishing the fire in many areas, it was still struggling to stamp out the fire in the local peatlands. "We also have to grapple with a dearth of water in some locations where the fire is raging," the firefighting unit head added.
The wildfire has so far not affected the local air quality or residents' daily activities.
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