Pekanbaru, Riau, July 17 (Antarariau.com) - The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in Pekanbaru detected 29 hotspots of forest and land fires in Riau Province on Tuesday.
Head of the BMKG office in Pekanbaru Sukisno noted that the hotspots had spread to other coastal areas of Riau, starting from Rokan Hilir, Dumai, and Bengkalis up to Siak District.
Dumai area had the maximum number of hotspots reaching 15, followed by seven in Rokan Hilir, six in Bengkalis, and one in Siak.
In addition to the 29 hotspots, Sukisno stressed that the Terra and Aqua satellite had detected 21 other points in five provinces in Sumatra.
Hotpots, with an accuracy level of above 50 percent, indicated that forest and land fires (Karhutla) had spread in 15 points in Lampung, two points each in Bangka Belitung and South Sumatra, and one each in North Sumatra and Bengkulu.
Meanwhile, he explained that of the 29 hotspots in Riau, 24 points are confirmed as hotspots or strong indications of Karhutla, with an accuracy level of above 70 percent.
"The spread of hotspots is quite extensive, with 13 points in Dumai, while Rokan Hilir and Bengkalis, each having five points, and one point in Siak," he noted.
A spike in the number of hotspots and fire spots in Riau was observed in the last 48 hours. Earlier, on Monday, the BMKG had detected 17 hotspots, and the figure doubled today.
The Riau provincial government had earlier extended the emergency alert status of forest and land fires by November 30, 2018.
The extension of the status is a precautionary measure against Karhutla as well as part of the efforts to ensure the successful implementation of the Asian Games 2018.
The Riau provincial government had earlier set the status for Karhutla at alert level since February 19, 2018, and ended on May 31, 2018.
During that time, the stipulation of the status was carried out after most areas of Riau got engulfed by fires.
It was recorded that 1,962.96 hectares of land in Riau had been ravaged by fire during the first five months of 2018, with over 100 hectares of area in five districts being engulfed by fire.
29 Hotspots Detected in Riau: BMKG
