Thick smoke from Riau forest fires disrupts Hari Raya travel for Indonesians

PEKANBARU, Indonesia – Thick smoke from widespread forest fires in Riau has disrupted the Idul Fitri (Hari Raya Aidilfitri) mudik, or exodus, reducing visibility to just 10m on key roads and raising safety concerns among travellers.

Mr Muhammad Arifin, who was travelling from Pekanbaru in Riau to his home town of Medan, North Sumatra, on March 15, said thick smoke blanketed a 1km stretch of road in Rantau Bais village in Rokan Hulu regency, forcing motorists to slow down and turn on their headlamps.

“The fire was only a few dozen metres from the roadside. The smoke was extremely thick and covered the road. It felt like we were feeling our way along the road because visibility was so limited,” Mr Arifin said on March 15.

He said the poor visibility posed a serious risk to road users, especially because traffic surges during the annual mudik season.

“The road is a key route linking Riau with neighbouring North Sumatra and is always busy with private cars, inter-city buses and heavy trucks. During the (Hari Raya Aidilfitri) mudik, traffic increases sharply, so disruptions such as smoke from forest fires need to be addressed quickly,” he said.

Mr Ari Nadem, who was also travelling with his family from Pekanbaru to Medan on March 14 on the trans-Sumatra highway, voiced similar concerns.

“Visibility was extremely limited, and I had to drive carefully to avoid accidents,” he told Kompas.com on March 14.

“The government needs to act quickly, as this poses a serious risk to drivers. Many people use this route during mudik,” Mr Ari added.

Rokan Hilir Police chief Isa Imam Syahroni said the authorities were struggling to extinguish fires that have burned about 30ha of land in Rantau Bais village and Ujung Tanjung village, about 20km away.

“The fire has spread across several pockets of dry land that ignite easily. Firefighters have had to move from one hot spot to another as flames continue to appear in different areas,” Mr Isa said.

He said dry peatland had complicated efforts to extinguish the blaze, as embers can continue burning beneath the surface.

Mr Isa said firefighters had managed to bring the blaze under control, though smoke was still rising from the burnt peatland.

“Teams are now carrying out cooling operations. The burnt areas are being thoroughly doused with water to ensure no embers remain beneath the peat,” he said.

According to satellite imagery analysis by the Forestry Ministry, forest and land fires in Riau burned about 4,400ha of land between January and February, with about 94 per cent of the affected area located on peatland.

Pelalawan and Bengkalis regencies recorded the largest burnt areas during the period.

On March 16, joint firefighting teams were still battling forest and land fires in five of Riau’s 12 regencies.

On Feb 13, the Riau provincial administration declared a forest and land fire emergency status effective until Nov 30, allowing the authorities to mobilise personnel and equipment more quickly and allocate funding more flexibly in response to fires.

Mr Ferdian Krisnanto, head of the Sumatra Forest Fire Control Agency, said Riau authorities had requested 30 additional firefighters from outside the province to assist in tackling the fires.

“Riau currently has 240 firefighting personnel on duty, with 30 more brought in from other regions. If necessary, we will deploy additional teams from North Sumatra, Jambi and South Sumatra,” Mr Ferdian said, adding that patrols had also been intensified to monitor hot spots.

The authorities in Riau have carried out a month-long weather modification operation in response to widespread forest and land fires in the province, seeding 35 tonnes of salt into clouds to trigger rainfall.

A second phase is planned for April.

“Weather modification is critical to support firefighting, particularly in areas difficult for ground teams to reach,” said Mr Jim Ghafur, head of the Emergency and Logistics Division of the Riau Disaster Management and Firefighting Agency.

Hot conditions, strong winds and the peatland terrain in Riau allow fires to spread easily and make them hard to extinguish without artificial rainfall.

The Pekanbaru office of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, or BMKG, recorded 315 hot spots across Riau on March 15.

The number of hot spots fell to 143 on March 15 after rain swept several areas.

Pelalawan regency recorded the highest number of hot spots, followed by Bengkalis and Rokan Hilir.

Hot spots were also detected in Indragiri Hilir, Kampar, Kuantan Singingi, Kepulauan Meranti, Siak, Indragiri Hulu and Dumai. THE JAKARTA POST/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK