Water Dropped Extinguish Fire

Pekanbaru (Antara Bali) - Special task force in Riau has dropped 1.6 million liters of water over the area to extinguish forest fires there, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB)'s Data Unit Chief Agus Wibowo stated here on Monday.

"The 1.6 million liters of water has been dropped 348 times using special planes like Sikorsky, Kamov and Bolcow over the past two weeks. Among the target areas are Bengkalis district, Dumai city, Kuantan Singgigi district, Indagiri Hilir district, and the border area between Riau and South Sumatra provinces," Agus explained.

Hundreds of hot spots and forest fires were reported in Riau province during the past month. The condition led to thick haze that cover most of Riau province area and caused respiratory infection among at least 55 thousand local people. The haze also reduced visibility and disturbed the air transportation there.

According to police investigations, the forest fires in Riau province were due to deliberate action by people who want to set up new plantations.

The Riau Haze Emergency Task Force has deployed 558 personnel to hunt down forest encroachers and arsonists that caused forest, plantation and peat-soil fires in Riau.

"The deployment of hundreds of personnel is mainly to strengthen legal enforcement," Chief of the Riau Police Brigadier General Condro Kirono, in his capacity as the commander of the task force's legal enforcement unit, stated. (*/DWA)