TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) of Riau province noted that 64 hectares of land have been burned so far this year.
Riau BPBD director Edwar Sanger told Antara that the fires have been put out. He added that the fire occurred from January to February this year were small in scale.
“But the small-scale [fires] must be extinguished before they get bigger,” he said.
Hot spots that indicate forest and land fires in Riau have been detected by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Pekanbaru chapter since mid-January.
The revelation had prompted Riau Governor Asyadjuliandi Rachman to declare a state of emergency over forest and land fires, following a similar announcement made for other regions Rokan Hulu and Dumai City.
According to Edwar, the state of emergency was declared to address fires as soon as possible to emulate last year’s success in the reducing number of fires.
“It is our joint responsibility to fight against forest and land fires. We will maintain efforts towards smoke-free Riau,” he explained.
ANTARA
