TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tera and Aqua satellites identified 71 hot spots indicating forest and land fires in a number of area in Sumatra Island. The figure increased compared to the number in the previous day which was 67 hot spots.
"Hot spots were identified at 06.00 in the morning," Pekanbaru Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency head Oto Sukisno said on Sunday (3/9).
Sukisno stated that South Sumatra contributes the highest number of hot spots with 31 spots. Bangka Belitung places second with 16 spots, Lampung comes third with 8 spots, Jambi places fourth with four spots, Bengkulu has only one hot spot, and Riau Islands also has one spot.
Meanwhile, Riau has nine hot spots with confidence level higher than fifty percent, Sukisno revealed. To anticipate the annual disaster of forest and land fires, Riau Provincial administration has declared the status of forest and land fire emergency since January 2017, extended to November.
RIYAN NOFITRA