Some 56 hotspots were found in Ketapang; 37 in Kubu Raya; 19 in Sanggau; 12 in Kapuas Hulu; nine in Landak; four each in Bengkayang, Mempawah, and North Kayong; as well as one each in Sintang and Melawi, Erika Mardiyanti, head of the Supadio meteorology office, remarked here on Wednesday.
Mardiyanti has forecast that West Kalimantan would receive heavy rains, lightening, and strong winds next week.
"At present, rains have begun to fall in parts of cities and districts in West Kalimantan, such as Kapuas Hulu, Bengkayang, Landak, Sambas, Pontianak, and Kubu Raya. Next week, rains, with moderate to high intensity, will fall in wider areas," he stated.
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Related news: BPBD confirms fires engulfed 10 hectares of West Kalimantan's peatland
A whirlwind hit Sungai Ambawang, Kubu Raya District, on Tuesday at 3:29 p.m. local time, and damaged 60 homes and 11 homeshops.
In the meantime, fires swept through five to 10 hectares of peatland in West Kalimantan Province during the dry spell this year, the Pontianak City Disaster Mitigation Office (BPBD) stated.
"The area of each of the burned peatland was so small that the military, police, and BPBD personnel, with assistance from private fighters, could extinguish the blaze quickly," BPBD Head Saptiko stated in Pontianak on Tuesday.
To handle land and forest fires in the province, the BPBD has cooperated with the military and police in conducting joint routine patrols in fire-prone land and forest areas.
"We also intensify prevention efforts by routinely informing the public of the danger and impact of land and forest fires, so they will no longer set fire to land or others," he stated.
The BPBD Office noted that four hotspots, indicating land and forest fires, were detected in Pontianak comprising one in North Pontianak, two in South Pontianak, and one in Southeast Pontianak.
On Monday, August 12, 2019, the Pontianak city administration sealed four plots of burned land on Sepakat Street 2, Southeast Pontianak Sub-district.
The city government sealed the land by putting up a notice board that read, "This land is under the surveillance of the Pontianak city government. It violates Regional Regulation No. 55 of 2018 concerning land and forest fires."
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Translator: Andilala, Fardah
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
