Pekanbaru, Riau, April 26 (Antarariau.com) - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite detected 14 forest fire hotspots across Sumatra on Friday afternoon.
Of these 14, five hotspots were in the Riau Province, Said Saqlul Amri, the head of the Riau Disaster Mitigation Office (BPBD), stated here on Saturday.
In Riau, two hotspots were detected in Indragiri Hilir district, and one each in Kampar, Kuantan Sengingi and Pelalawan districts.
The number of hotspots in Riau has seemingly risen due to the dry weather over the past few days.
According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the Indonesian military and police will deploy four battalions of personnel to help extinguish fires at the hotspots in each district in the Riau Province by April-end.
These 2,000 officers are being drafted from the Army, the Marines, the Police and the Special Forces.
The meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG) has forecast that the dry season will start from May and last until September this year, with June being the peak of the dry season in Riau, particularly in the Pekanbaru city, Siak, Pelalawan and Indragiri Hulu districts.
Earlier this year, fires razed more than 20 thousand hectares of forest, plantation and peat-soil areas throughout the Riau province.
In line with the instructions of the president and the national police chief, the Riau police seriously investigated forest fire incidents and cases of illegal logging.
The Task Force of the Riau Forest Fire Mitigation has arrested a number of people for illegally encroaching on certain swathes of the Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu biosphere reserve.
The Riau police have so far named 116 people as suspects in forest and plantation fires in the province located on Sumatra Island.
They were allegedly involved in 70 cases that are now being handled by the local police throughout the Riau province, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Guntur Aryo Teji stated recently.
Satellite Detects 14 Forest Fire Hotspots in Sumatera
