BMG detects 41 spots in southern part of Sumatra
Antara 2 May 08;
Medan, North Sumatra (ANTARA News) - The southern part of Sumatra now has 41 hot spots with the potential of triggering forest fires, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) station in Medan said.
"Therefore, we call on the public there to be alert to the possibility of forest fires breaking out," a BMG analyst, Agus Syafril, told ANTARA News here on Friday.
Through monitoring via the NOA 41 satellite, it had been established that the hot spots were located in the provinces of Jambi, Bengkulu and Lampung.
He said, the number of hot spots had increased because the southern part of Sumatra was entering the dry season which was estimated to last until October this year.
"At present, the southern part of Sumatra which lies just south of the equator has entered the dry season so that it is having very little rain. This has caused more hot spots to appear," he said.
In view of the increased risk of forest fires, the BMG called on companies and local people in the three provinces intending to burn bushes for whatever purpose to take extra measures to localize the resulting fires so that they would not spread to nearby forests.
In addition, relevant government agencies in the three provinces were expected to keep a tighter watch over local forests to minimize the possibilty of fires breaking out in them, he said. (*)
