Indonesia: Five more hot spots detected in Jambi

Jon Afrizal The Jakarta Post 8 Jun 17;

The Jambi Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) spotted five new hot spots in the province on Thursday.

Agency head Nurangesti said they detected two hot spots in West Tanjungjabung regency and three others in Batanghari regency, Sarolangun regency and Tebo regency.

“The confidence levels for these hot spots ranged from 60 to 89 percent,” Nurangesti said.

In response to the emergence of hot spots, the Jambi Land and Forest Fire task force has readied their personnel to watch each hot spot in the region. The task force also apprehended a farmer who was allegedly burning his own land in Tebo regency.

“We apprehended Amran, a 65-year-old farmer, for burning a 1.5-hectare plot of land,” said Col. Inf. Refrizal, the task force’s commander.

He added Amran allegedly cleared his land of trees and branches by burning it, so he could plant rubber trees on it. (kuka/ary)