So, we must soon overcome the smoke arising from its source."
Pekanbaru (ANTARA News) - The Riau Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has deployed three helicopters to conduct water bombing operations in Siak district on Friday.

On Friday, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) detected hotspots in a 10-hectare plot of idle land in the district, Head of the BPBD in Riau Province Edwar Sanger remarked.

"Since this morning, three helicopters --- Camorv, MI 171, and Sikosrsky --- have tried to put out the fire. The latest developments show that the fire could be controlled," he affirmed.

He noted that the three helicopters, assisted by firefighters from the BPBD, are currently focusing on handling the haze caused by the land fire.

"We continued to dampen the area by conducting water bombing operations to prevent the recurrence of fire. Thank God, there was rain this morning," he stated.

The agency is making every effort to prevent any recurrence of the fire, he emphasized.

By Friday, no hotspots were detected in Riau province. However, he expressed regret over the fact that haze continued to shroud Riau despite no hotspots being found in the past week.

"We speak based on data. No hotspots were found in Riau in the past week, but it is still blanketed in haze. The latest data from the BMKG suggest that 693 hotspots were found in South Sumatra, 32 in Jambi, and 37 in Lampung. So, we must soon overcome the smoke arising from its source," he added.

(Reported by Fazar Muhardi & Anggi Romadhoni/Uu.INE/KR-BSR/H-YH)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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