Pekanbaru, Riau (Antarariau.com) - As many as 20 hotspots of forest fires were detected across Sumatra Island, including seven in Riau Province, on Monday.
The hotspots were detected by the Terra and Aqua satellites in the provinces of Riau, Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Jambi, and Bengkulu, Sugarin, head of the Pekanbaru meteorology station, stated here, Monday.
Four hotspots were found North Sumatra, three each in West Sumatra and Aceh, two in Jambi, and one in Bengkulu.
In Riau, two hotspots each were found in the districts of Siak and Kuantan Singingi, while one each was detected in Bengkalis, Indragiri Hilir, and Pelalawan.
The governor of Riau has declared a forest fire emergency status for 96 days, from January to April 30, 2017, to optimize the efforts to prevent wildfires.
The local disaster mitigation office has recorded that more than 300 hectares of Riau s forest areas were gutted by fire since early this year.
The forest fire task force has intensified patrols and has built canals to prevent wildfires.
Indonesia is bracing for forest and plantation fires, as the country is forecast to experience drought that could induce wildfires, from June to October this year.
Despite the country being relatively free of haze smog arising from forest fires last year, President Joko Widodo has urged all stakeholders to undertake early preventive measures against wildfires.
The head of state has reminded ministers and regional authorities to remain vigilant against forest fires, starting from early this year.
Last year, the government had managed to curb forest fires significantly.
In 2015, Indonesia was hit hard by forest and plantation fires that had affected 2,089 million hectares of area and inflicted financial losses worth Rp220 trillion.
The wildfires in 2015 had affected commercial flights, offices, businesses, schools, and public health.
Some 504 thousand people suffered from respiratory ailments, and flora and fauna habitats were damaged, as 2.6 million hectares of forest areas were gutted by wildfires.
20 Hotspots Detected on Sumatra Island
