TEMPO.CO, Pekanbaru - Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has detected 18 hot spots indicating potential forest and land fires in five forests in Sumatra on Friday, May 19.
"The 18 hot spots with more than 50 percent confidence level were detected in the provinces of Jambi, South Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau and Riau Islands," head of data and information division of BMKG Pekanbaru Chapter Slamet Riyadi said Friday.
Slamet explained that the 18 hot spots were detected by Terra and Aqua satellite images on Friday morning. Seven hot spots were detected in Jambi, four hot spots each in Riau and South Sumatra, two hot spots in West Sumatra, and one hot spot in Riau Islands.
Meanwhile, four hot spots detected in Riau Province were each spread in regencies of Bengkalis, Indragiri Hulu, Pelalawan, and Siak.
The emergence of the hot spots on Friday was the highest in the past week. Previously, BMKG stated that Riau Province has entered the dry season on mid to the end of May 2017.
In addition, Riau Provincial government officially extended Forest and Land Fire Alert status to November 2017.
Head of Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency Edwar Sanger has instructed forest and land fire task force to take extra caution and to closely monitor the hot spots.
ANTARA