"Yesterday, there were only nine hotspots in Sumatra, and eight of them were in Riau Province. This morning, the number of hotspots has drastically increased to 68," Sugarin, head of the Pekanbaru meteorology office, stated here, Friday.
Of the total 68 hotspots, 67 were found in Riau Province and one in Lampung.
In Riau, 44 were detected in Rokan Hilir, 17 in Bengkalis, four in Siak, and two in Rokan Hulu District.
In the four districts, 52 hotspots were believed to have originated from wildfires, comprising 35 in Rokan Hilir, 14 in Bengkalis, two in Siak, and one in Rokan Hulu.
Personnel of the Riau forest and plantation fire task force have been making all-out efforts to extinguish the fires, including three hotspots in the border between Pekanbaru and Kampar, which were not detected by the satellites.
Two air tractors and a MI-8 helicopter were deployed to conduct water bombing activities, including in Tapung Sub-district, Kampar District, Colonel Yani Amirullah of the Roesmin Nurjadin Air Force operation remarked.
"The wildfires in Kampar and Pekanbaru must be put out immediately to prevent them from producing smoke haze that could affect flights at the Sultan Syarif Kasim International Airport," he added.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
