Hotspots on Sumatra nearly double
The number of hotspots of forest, plantation and peatland fires in Riau in Indonesia's Sumatra Island reached 256 on Wednesday morning, more than double the 126 the previous day.
Of the 281 hotspots detected across Sumatra, 256 were found in Riau, Slamet Riyadi, the head of the Pekanbaru meteorological, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG)’s data and information section, said as reported by Antara.
The data was based on recordings on Wednesday at 7am local time, he added.
Of the 256 hotspots in Riau, 94 were found in Bengkalis regency, 32 in Meranti, 26 in Indragiri Hilir, 34 in Pelalawan, 52 in Siak, 10 in Rokan Hilir, seven in Dumai, and one in Kampar.
Slamet predicted that the number of hotspots in Riau would remain high over the week to come because of a lack of rain.
“Usually haze occurs in May or June. But, this year, the haze has started appearing in January and February in Riau and West Kalimantan,” a National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman said in Jakarta, recently.
