R

iau is struggling to tackle a growing number of land and forest fires, making it once again the province with the most hot spots in Sumatra.

Based on data from satellite images released by the Pekanbaru Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), 54 hot spots emerged in Sumatra on Thursday morning, 29 of them in Riau.

“Other hotspots are found in South Sumatra [9], North Sumatra [8], West Sumatra [5], Jambi [2] and Riau Islands [1],” said Pekanbaru BMKG head Sugarin.

In Riau, the hotspots have been detected in eight of the 12 regencies and cities. Most of them are found in Pelalawan regency with eight hotspots, followed by Dumai city and Bengkalis regency (5 each), Kampar regency (4), Siak regency (3), Meranti Islands regency (2) and Rokan Hulu and Indragiri Hulu regencies (1 each).

“As many as 13 them are indicated as fire spots with a confidence level above 70 percent. The spots are believed to be land and forest fires found in Bengkalis [3], Dumai [4], Meranti Islands [1], Kampar [3], Pelalawan [1] and Rokan Hulu [1],” he said.

According to Sugarin, the hotspots in Riau are likely to continue to grow because the weather remains sunny and there is only the chance of light intensity rain in the central, southern and western regions in the afternoon or evening. “The maximum air temperature reaches 35 degrees Celsius, thus raising the risk of land and forest fires, especially in peatland regions,” he said.