Indonesia: Forest and land fires detected in Jambi

Jakarta Post 10 Jun 16;

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), using the Terra and Aqua satellites, has detected five hot spots scattered across four regencies in the province of Jambi, Sumatra.

The hot spots, which are either forest fires or land-clearing fires, were located in the regencies of Batanghari, Sarolangun, Tanjungjabung Barat and Tebo.

Jambi’s BMKG head Nurangesti said the hot spot in the Batanghari regency was located in the Sengkati Baru village in Mersam district while the hotspot in the Sarolangun regency was in Pemuncak village, Limun district.

The hot spot in Tanjungjabung Barat was, meanwhile, in Kelagian village, Tungkal Ulu district, while two hotspots in Tebo regency were in Napal Putih and Pemayongan villages.

The local police will follow up on the findings by deploying officers to those places to investigate. An earlier investigation into the site of a hot spot in the Merangin regency showed there was a fire that had been started by the burning of bushes by local people who were clearing land.