99 Spots are Burning in Riau

Pekanbaru (ANTARA News) - The NOAA satellite owned by the US and is operated by Singapore, has updated the escalating number of hotspots in Riau province, from yesterday's 61 to 99 today.

 "So far there are 143 hotspots on the island of Sumatra, most of them -99 hotspots- occur in Riau," said the Head of Disaster Management Agency (Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah/BPBD) Riau, Said Saqlul Amri, to the press by email last Tuesday.

Hotspots are identified by the satellite by detecting places whose temperature are higher that 45 degrees Celcius, which could then be assumed as a wildfire taking place.

kampanye hutan Profauna di SumateraAmong almost a hundred hotspots, most occur in Rokan Hilir regency (42 hotspots) and secondly in Bengkalis regency (20 hotspots).

In Rokan Hilir, the hotspots are scattered in different districts: Pujud, Rantau Kopar, Tanah Putih, Bangko Pusako, Tanjung Melawan, Pasir Limau Kapas, Bagan Sinembah, and Kubu. Meanwhile, in Bengkalis the hotspots appear in Siak Kecil, Pinggir, Bukit Batu, and Rupat districts.

NOAA 18 satellite also detected 11 new hotspots in Dumai and 8 others in Indragiri Hilir.

As for the ones in Dumai, they are scattered in several districts, namely Bukit Kapur, Sungai Sembilan, dan Kecamatan Dumai Barat. In Indragiri Hilir, hotspots occur in Kemuning, Kerintang, Gaung, Mandah, and Pelagiran districts.

In Siak regency, only two districts (Tualang and Kandis) have hotspots, while in Indragiri Hulu there are four districts Perabap, Batang Peranap, and Batang Cinaku.

In Pelalawan regency, there are three hotspots, all are within the area of Langgam district. The regencies of Kampar, Kuantan Singingi, and Pekanbaru each has only one hotspot.

However, Modis Terra and Aqua satellites, who record the same data at the same time, only detect 85 hotspots which are dispersed in 9 regencies: Rokan Hilir (28 titik), Dumai (20), Bengkalis (19), Pelalawan (10), Meranti (2), Indragiri Hulu (2), Indragiri Hilir (2), Rokan Hulu (1), and Siak (1). 

© 2003 - ProFauna Indonesia

ProFauna Indonesia is an Indonesian society for the protection of
wild animals and their habitats