Pekanbaru, Riau, (Antarariau.com) - The Indonesian Army (TNI AD) deployed a Cassa 212 plane to help extinguish forest fires in Riau Province, an official said.
"The Army's Cassa will help spread salt (NaCl) during the weather modification process to make artificial rains," Commander of the Riau Haze Emergency Task Force Brigadier General Teguh Rajardjo said here on Thursday.
Director of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Tri Budiarto said the agency planned to make cloud seeding over Dumai on Thursday.
"Hopefully, we could spread salt immediately, at least through one flight," he said.
The team is currently focusing on extinguishing fires in northern Riau Province, particularly in Dumai City.
According to the NOAA 18 Satellite, the number of fire hot spots on July 24 decreased significantly to 56 from 185 hot spots on July 23, 2013.
The hot spots were detected in Rokan Hilir (23 hot spots), Bengkalis (10), Pelalawan (seven), Rokan Hulu (seven), and Siak (eight).
Around 700 army officers and four helicopters of BNPB have been deployed to deal with the fore fires.
An Antara journalist observed smog again shrouded a number of areas in Riau province over the past few days.
The smog recently forced three planes to divert flights as visibility at Sultan Syarif Kasim (SSK) II Airport in the provincial capital Pekanbaru dropped to less than 500 meters.
The local authorities have again put the province under "smog alert status" and will cooperate with BNPB in putting out the land and forest fires.
Meanwhile, encroachments on forest land have been blamed as the cause of forest fires in Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN) in Riau Province.
Encroachers set fire to clear land for plantations, Kupin Simbolon, the head of Tesso Nilo National Park, said recently.
Last June, when Riau Province were hit by massive forest fires, 18 hotspots were detected in the national park, he said.
The areas which are prone to encroachments and thus man-made forest fires, are Bukit Kusuma, Toro dan Dolit
Indonesia's Army Deploys Aircraft To Help Extinguish Forest Fires
