Pekanbaru, Riau (Antara)- The Terra and Aqua satellites on Sunday detected 82 hotspots across Sumatra Island, with the confident level at 50 percent.
The number increased by one hotspot from 81 hotspots spreading in eight provinces across Sumatra on Saturday, Sugarin the Pekanbaru meteorology station head, said.
Of the 82 hotspots, 23 were found in West Sumatra Province, 18 in Riau, 13 in North Sumatra, eight each in South Sumatra and Jambi, five in Bangka Belitung, and three in Aceh Darussalam.
In Riau Province, the hostpots indicating forest, peatland and plantation fires, were detected in Pelalawan (with 11 hotspots), Rokan Hilir (two), Siak (two), Indragiri Hilir (one), Dumai (one), and Bengkalis (one).
Riau Governor Arsyadjuliandi Rachman has instructed the local authorities to extinguish the fires.
Head of the Operation Center of the Roesmin Nurjadin Air Force Base, Major Lek Ferry Duwantoro said a MI-8 helicopter of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) was deployed to extinguish the fires in Riau, including those in Tesso Nilo National Park.(*)
