Forest fires hit 10 districts/cities in Riau

Antara 4 Jul 09;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Ten out of eleven districts/cities in Riau Province were hit by forest and plantation fires, according to information from the Sultan Syarif Kasim airport`s meteorological, climatology, and geophysics station (BMKG) in Pekanbaru.

"Ten districts/cities in Ria are being hit by forest and plantation fires," Sanya, a BMKG analyst, said here on Saturday.

According to data obtained through NOAA 18 satellite monitoring, there were 80 hotspots indicating forest and plantation fires in the ten areas, Sanya said.

The affected areas are Rokan Hilir District (with 24 hotspots), Pelalawan and Bengkalis Districts (respectively 11 hotspots), Indragiri Hulu District (nine), Rokan Hulu and Indragiri Hilir Districts (respectively four), Siak District (five), Dumai City (four), Kampar and Kuantan Singingi Districts (respectively two).

"So the total number of hotspots in Riau Province are 80 from previously 27 hotspots," he said.

Only the provincial capital of Pekanbaru was free from hotspots, he said. However, BMKG predicted that haze from the forest fires in the neighboring districts, could affect the city.

Early June 2009, at least ten regions in Riau province also experienced forest and land fires. According to the NOAA satellite 18 monitoring, at least 39 hot spots were detected in the regions.

The ten regions were the districts of Pelalwan with nine hot spots, Rokan Hulu with five hot spots, Indragiri Hulu with four hot spots, Bengkalis with two hot spots, Kampar with two hot spots, Bengkalis with one hot spot, Kuantan Singgingi with one hot spot, Siak with one hot spot and Indragiri Hilir one hot spot.

BMKG urged local farmers not to set fire in forest or plantation areas in order to prevent haze.

At the end of May 2009, dry air triggered at least 350 hot spots which were detected on Sumatra Island, including in West Sumatra.(*)