Three hotspots were found in Bengkulu, one in Jambi, 21 in South Sumatra, four in Bangka Belitung, and nil in Riau."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - As many as 29 hotspots were detected across Sumatra Island in the morning of Wednesday.
"Three hotspots were found in Bengkulu, one in Jambi, 21 in South Sumatra, four in Bangka Belitung, and nil in Riau," spokesman of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency Hary T Djatmiko said in in a statement, here on Wednesday.
Although Riau Province has no hotspot, the visibility in Pekanbaru is seven kilometers, in Rengat four kilometers, and in Dumai seven kilometers.
Pelalawan is foggy and the visibility is five kilometers.
Forest fires have hit several Indonesian provinces lately.
Environmental Affairs and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar claimed that the number of forest fire cases had dropped drastically by 75 percent until August this year, compared to last year.
The National Police have handled 498 cases of forest fire across Indonesia until August 2016, including to 85 cases in Riau, compared to last years 275 cases.
A total of 88 thousand hectares of forest, peatland, and land areas across Indonesia were gutted by fires, a drop from 190 thousand hectares in the same period last year.
In Riau, wildfires razed some 3,000 ha area.
(Uu.F001/O001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
