Sumatra Records 433 Hot Spots, Riau the Second Largest Contributor

Illustration of forest fires (ANTARA)

PEKANBARU - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Pekanbaru station detected 46 hot spots in Riau Province, the most of which were in Inderagiri Hilir Regency, with 20 points.

BMKG Pekanbaru Station Praktirawan, Yasir P, said that in addition to Inderagiri Hilir, the hot spot distribution was in Bengkalis Regency (13), Pelalawan (7), Rokan Hilir (4), and Meranti Islands and Rokan Hulu each one. The data is based on data updates until 23.00 WIB, Tuesday evening.

"This condition is a concern as the weather forecast in Riau is still dominated by sunny to cloudy weather with the potential for light to moderate rain that is local," said Yasir, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, January 28.

Meanwhile, on the island of Sumatra, 433 hotspots were detected, with the most in Aceh Province with 259 points. Then Riau and followed by West Sumatra (49), North Sumatra (43), Bengkulu (15), Lampung (14), Riau Islands (5), Bangka Belitung Islands and South Sumatra each one.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Riau Province, M. Edy Afrizal, said that a number of forest and land fires (karhutla) had been monitored in several local areas in the past week.

"There are indeed several points of fire, but thank God it has been extinguished. Some have been extinguished completely, but there are still some that are being cooled," he said.

He said that in Kampar Regency, two fire points were detected and all of them had been extinguished. Bengkalis Regency has three points which are now in the cooling phase.

Meanwhile, in Meranti Islands Regency, three fire points were also found which had been extinguished and were still being cooled. For the Pekanbaru City area, four points were monitored and all of them had been completely extinguished and one fire point was recorded in Kuantan Singingi Regency.

"BPBD Riau continues to coordinate with related agencies to ensure that no further fires occur, especially in areas that are still in the cooling phase," he said.