The Pekanbaru meteorology station cited the presence of 1,313 hotspots indicative of forest fires throughout Sumatra Island on Wednesday morning.
"The largest number of hotspots, reaching some 400, had been found in Jambi and South Sumatra, while some 300 hotspots were spotted in Riau," Bibin Sulianto, analyst at the Pekanbaru meteorology, climatology, and geophysics station, remarked here on Wednesday.
A water reservoir was made near the location of forest fire in Teluk Jira, Temuling Sub-district, Indragiri Hilir District, Riau Province, on Sept 17, 2019. (photo Antara/ FA)
Monitoring of the Terra and Aqua Satellites at 6 a.m. local time indicated the presence of 484 hotspots in Jambi Province, 424 in South Sumatra Province, and 334 in Riau Province.
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Furthermore, 27 hotspots were spotted in Bangka Belitung, 21 in Lampung, nine in Riau Islands, seven in West Sumatra, six in North Sumatra, and one in Bengkulu.
Of the total 334 hotspots in Riau, 97 hotspots were observed in Rokan Hilir, 93 in Pelalawan, 52 in Indragiri Hulu, 46 in Indragiri Hilir, 18 in Kampar, 14 in Dumai, 10 in Bengkalis, three in Kuansing, and one in Rokan Hulu.
At least 205 of the 334 hotspots were confirmed to be fire spots, with 61 detected in Pelalawan, 58 in Rokan Hilir, 36 in Indragiri Hulu, 27 in Indragiri Hilir, 10 in Dumai, six each in Bengkalis and Kampar, and one in Kuansing.
On Wednesday, smog from Pelalawan and Kampar blanketed Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau Province.
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In the meantime, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) expressed the government’s full-fledged efforts to combat land and forest fires in the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan.
"Firstly, we have made all-out efforts. As part of the land-based operations, we have sprayed water on (land and forest areas conflagrated by fires). We ordered additional (fire brigade personnel) on Saturday. A total of 5,600 of them arrived (on the scene) yesterday," the president remarked at the Roesmin Nurjadin Airbase in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau Province, on Tuesday.
Jokowi paid a visit to Pekanbaru to hold discussions on the handling of land and forest fires.
"Secondly, we have prayed to God. Last night, we performed the istisqa prayers (for rains)," he remarked.
The head of state noted that the other effort targets addressing land and forest fires by conducting water bombing operations by deploying 52 planes.
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