• Thick smoke reduces visibility on major roads in Riau
• Firefighters battle blazes to protect travelers

Widespread forest fires in Indonesia’s Riau province have disrupted traffic, especially during the annual Eid al-Fitr homecoming season, with visibility dropping to around 10 meters on main roads, raising safety concerns for motorists.

Muhammad Arifin, traveling from Pekanbaru in Riau to his hometown of Medan in North Sumatra on March 15, said thick smoke covered about one kilometer of road in Rantau Bais village, Rokan Hulu district, forcing drivers to slow down and switch on headlights.

“The flames were only a few dozen meters from the roadside, and the smoke was so dense it felt like we were feeling our way along the road,” he said.

Arifin noted that the limited visibility posed a serious danger to road users, especially with traffic increasing during the homecoming season.

“This road connects Riau to North Sumatra and is always busy with private cars, buses, and heavy trucks. During the Eid season, traffic rises sharply, so any disruptions like smoke from forest fires must be addressed quickly,” he added.

Rokan Hilir Police Chief Isa Imam Syahronu said authorities were working to extinguish fires that burned around 30 hectares in Rantau Bais and Ujung Tanjung villages, about 20 km apart.

“The fires spread across dry, easily ignitable areas. Firefighters had to move between multiple hotspots, and the dry peatland made controlling the flames harder because embers continued burning underground,” he explained.

He added that the firefighters managed to bring the fires under control, though smoke still rose from the burned areas. “Teams are now cooling and soaking the burned land to ensure no embers remain beneath the peat,” he said.