Antara 27 Jul 15;
Pekanbaru (ANTARA News) - During the January-July 2015 period, Riaus firefighters have put out 60 fires that have razed forest, peatland, and plantation areas.
Of the 60 cases, two were very difficult, and it took days to extinguish them, Head of the Pekanbaru disaster mitigation and fire brigade office Burman Gurning stated here on Sunday.
The two reported wildfires gutted down peatland areas in Parit Indah and Payung Sekaki.
"The depth of peatland in the two locations reaches up to seven meters," he revealed.
In fact, the fire razing the 2.5-hectare peatland area in front of the Payung Sekaki sub-district heads office has not yet been totally put out, he noted.
In the meantime, Acting Governor of Riau Arsyadjuliandi Rachman earlier this week reported about the situation of the wildfires to Forestry and Environmental Affairs Minister Siti Nurbaya in Jakarta.
Rachman met the minister on July 24 to report about the condition of the wildfire-hit province, Darusman, the spokesman of the Riau Province administration, noted here, Sunday.
Over the past week, Pekanbaru city, the capital of Riau, was shrouded by haze arising from Jambi.
Some 200 hectares of peatland in Gambut Jaya Kumpeh village, Muarojambi District, have been razed down by fires, which are now approaching residential areas.
In Riau Province, more than one thousand hectares of forest area were gutted down by fires, and some 1,022 people fell ill due to air pollution.
Edward Sanger, the head of the Riau disaster mitigation office, stated that the number of hotspots in the province has decreased due to the rains and efforts to put out the fires.
A Sikorsky helicopter has arrived to assist in the efforts to extinguish the wildfires, he noted, adding that two major plantation companies have also provided assistance in tackling the blaze.
(Uu.F001/INE/KR-BSR/O001)
Russia-made helicopter deployed to extinguish Riau wildfires
Antara 27 Jul 15;
Pekanbaru (ANTARA News) - The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has rented a Russian-made Sikorsky helicopter to strengthen its efforts to put out wildfires in Riau Province.
The helicopter arrived at Roesmin Nurjadin Air Force Base here on Saturday (July 25) and started dropping water bombs on the fires on Sunday, Edward Sanger from the Pekanbaru disaster mitigation office stated.
In addition to Sikorsky, the office has already deployed an MI-17 helicopter in an effort to extinguish the blaze.
Sikorsky has a capacity to carry up to four tons of water during each sortie.
In the meantime, the Terra and Aqua satellites detected 308 hotspots indicating wildfires on Sumatra Island, Sunday, Head of the Pakanbaru meteorology, climatology and geophysics office (BMKG) Sugarin stated.
Riau is the largest contributor, with 122 hotspots, followed by South Sumatra (59), Jambi (58), North Sumatra (25), West Sumatra (19), Bengkulu (10), Bangka Belitung (nine), Lampung (five), and Riau Islands (one), according to Sugarin.
In Riau Province, 44 hotspots were found in Pelalawan District, 17 in Bengkalis, 16 in Kampar, 14 in Indragiri Hulu, eight in Indragiri Hilir, seven in Dumai, five in Rokan Hilir, four in Kuantan Singingi, and two in Rokan Hulu.
Of the total 122 hotspots in Riau, 71 had the accuracy rate of above 70 percent, thereby confirming the emergence of wildfires in the province.
More wildfires are likely to occur in Riau as the temperature in Riau reached 34 degrees Celsius, and the humidity was 97 percent.
The visibility in Pekanbaru on Sunday, at 7 a.m. local time, reached only a kilometer, which is the minimal safety limit for operating flights.
Based on the Air Pollution Standard Index monitoring data, the air quality over Pekanbaru City was at a moderate level despite haze shrouding the capital of Riau Province.
(Uu.F001/INE/KR-BSR/O001)
