Indonesia: Number of Sumatra's fire hot spots increases to 227

Antara 24 Jun 13;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The number of hot spots from forest and plantation fires across Sumatra increased from 118 to 227 on Sunday.

Of the total, 159 hot spots were detected in Riau Province, a significant increase from 95 hot spots on Sutarday, Warih Lestari, of the local meteorological, climatology, and geophysics agency (BMKG), said here on Monday.

Based on the monitoring by NOAA satellite on Sunday, the 227 hot spots were found in the provinces of Riau (159), West Sumatra (21), South Sumatra (15), North Sumatra (12), Jambi (11), Bengkulu (six), and Aceh (three).

In Riau, the hot spots were detected among other things in Rokan Hulu District (41), Pelalawan (35), Siak (22), Bengkalis (11), Kuantan Singingi (11), Kampar (nine), Rokan Hulu (eight), Indragiri Hulu (eight), Dumai (seven), and Indragiri Hilir (five).

High temperature on Sunday triggered more hot spots in Sumatra, he said.

Riau has lately experienced extreme hot weather with above normal temperature, according to Lestari.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan recently said the government would not tolerate companies burning land and bushes that caused haze to shroud Riau and its surrounding.

"Companies which are proved to have practiced slash-and-burn activities and caused land and forest fires will be acted upon firmly. There will be no compromise," the minister said when attending a function to see off a land and forest fire extinguisher team in Dumai, Riau, on Saturday.

He said that the government was now concentrating on putting out land and forest fires under the coordination of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). The agency team is composed of members from relevant ministries.

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Editor: Ade Marboen

Visibility at Hang Nadim Airport up to 2,000 meters
Antara 23 Jun 13;

Batam, Riau Islands (ANTARA News) - Visibility at Hang Nadim Airport on the industrialized island of Batam went up to 2,000 meters on Sunday afternoon after falling to 700 meters on Friday and Saturday, spokesman of the airport Suwarso said.

"Haze from fires in Sumatra mainland has began to decline, with visibility continuing to increase to 2,000 meters on Sunday afternoon," he said.

No flight schedules at the airport were delayed on Sunday, he said.

"Up till this afternoon everything is alright. No departures and arrivals at the airport have been delayed because of haze," he said.

With the visibility reaching 2,000 meters, the airport is safe for airplanes including wide-bodied aircraft to land, he said.

A number of flights from and to the airport were cancelled from Wednesday to Saturday as visibility was down to 500 meters, he said.

On Saturday, the National Disaster Mitigation Board (BNPB) helped by relevant agencies began to put out fires in a number of places in Riau province.

BNPB chief Syamsul Maarif and Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya inspected the effort to extinguish woodland and forest fires in Bengkalis and Rokan Hilir, Riau, on Saturday.

Maarif said Cassa and Hercules planes owned by the Indonesian Air Force are conducting cloud seeding operations and three helicopters will be deployed to conduct water bombing efforts.

(Reporting by Larno/S012)

Editor: Priyambodo RH

Rain-inducing efforts bring some relief to Riau
Joyce Lim And Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Indonesia Correspondent In Pekanbaru (riau)
Straits Times 24 Jun 13;

DUMAI, the parched city at the heart of the haze, finally got some relief yesterday, as rain fell after cloud-seeding was carried out the day before. The rain lasted for about 30 minutes in the early morning.

"The rain came at 5am at Bukit Kapur in Pelingtung," said Mr Heru Widodo, who heads the weather modification team at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

Bukit Kapur is a plantation on the outskirts of Dumai, the coastal city closest to many of the fires causing the haze that has shrouded neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.

But Indonesians living and working in the heart of Dumai city told The Strait Times yesterday that they were unaware of the rain, as there had not been much change to the weather there.

"It's still very hot and hazy here. The air is still not good. I fell sick today," Miss Yunina Ningsih, 33, a hotel receptionist, told The Straits Times.

She said she was not aware that a state of emergency had been declared in Riau province since last Friday.

"I have only read in the papers that Indonesia caused Singapore to be in an emergency state. Not Riau," she said.

Residents seem to be going on with their lives as usual.

A local farmer, Mr Mulia Manurung, 50, told The Straits Times that he continues to spend long hours working in his field, slashing and burning to clear the land for the next planting.

He said he too was unaware of Riau's state of emergency as he does not read the newspapers or watch television.

Miss Yersi Dania, 13, a waitress who works in a seafood restaurant, said business had increased with the haze. More foreigners and Indonesians living outside Riau province had visited and patronised her restaurant in the past two weeks.

Yesterday, as water-bombing and cloud-seeding were carried out for the second day, officials said people should not be too optimistic, as thin clouds had been forecast for the next 10 days - not the best conditions for cloud-seeding.

First Lieutenant Fajar Gusthana, 29, told The Straits Times before taking off in an air force Hercules C130 plane from the Pekanbaru Air Force base yesterday that the clouds had been too thin and not ideal for cloud-seeding when it was first carried out on Saturday.

His team brought four tonnes of salt onto the plane, but only two tonnes were used as there were few clouds. What makes it harder is that there are no clouds directly above the hot spots.

"This is always the case. Currently, the wind is blowing from west to east and north-east. We will seed the clouds on the western and south-western side of Riau."

"Hopefully, those clouds will be blown to the east and north-east, above the hot spots," Mr Heru said during a media conference at the Pekanbaru Air Force base yesterday.

Colonel Andyawan M.P., the base commander, said the operation over the weekend was aimed at inducing rain in the Bengkalis and Pelalawan regencies, where the hot spots are concentrated.

"If there is rain, like this morning in Dumai, it will reduce haze, and with sunlight, more clouds will be formed. And we can continue with the cloud-seeding," said Col Andyawan.

Two helicopters were used for water-bombing over the weekend.

Col Andyawan said the operation could not be carried out for more than five hours a day, but he is confident of extinguishing forest fires on several hundred square metres of land.

Cloud-seeding and water-bombing operations are likely to continue, as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered the National Disaster Management Agency to take over fire extinguishing efforts in Riau.

Local firefighters had earlier struggled to put out the fires in the plantations.

Second day of cloud-seeding
Straits Times 24 Jun 14;

A MILITARY transport plane conducted cloud-seeding in Riau yesterday for the second day running, after a state of emergency was declared in the province.

The operation, which lasted 1 hour 40 minutes, involved the plane flying to about 10,000 feet before salt powder was scattered into the clouds, said Mr Heru Widodo, the head of the Weather Modification team at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

Salt is a common substance used to induce rain.

"As the current clouds are thin, we are unable to fly right into it," Mr Heru told The Straits Times. "We will risk breaking up the clouds if we do that."

Two helicopters are also being used for water- bombing at the hot spots, said Lieutenant-Colonel Sukirman Sulaiman.

The helicopters collect water using a pail from nearby rivers, transport the water to the hot spots and pour it out over the scorched lands. Very often fires are still trapped under the peatlands and are likely to resurface.

JOYCE LIM and WAHYUDI SOERIAATMADJA