The Jakarta Post 7 Jun 17;
At least 52 hotspots indicating forest fires appeared in satellite images of several locations in Sumatra on Tuesday.
“We spotted [the hotspots] at 7 a.m.,” said Pekanbaru Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency head Otto Sukisno as quoted by tempo.co.
Jambi has the most hotspots with 17 locations, followed by Bengkulu 12 locations, South Sumatra (seven locations), Lampung (six locations), North Sumatra (three locations), West Sumatra (three locations) and Bangka Belitung (one location).
In Riau, the hotspots were detected in Indragiri Hulu, Rokan Hulu and Rokan Hilir.
In the past three days, hotspots were also detected in Riau’s Kuala Kampar, Pelalawan, Rokan IV Koto, Rokan Hulu and Siak Kecil.
Roesmin Nurjadin Air Force airbase has deployed a Super Puma chopper to monitor the hotspots.
The airbase spokesman Maj. Rizwar said that another chopper carrying four tons of water had also been deployed to conduct ‘water bombing’ in some burning areas in Riau recently.
“[It] conducted 12 water bombings to extinguish fires in Siak Kecil,” Rizwar said. (dmr)
