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Concerns grow in Pontianak as number of hot spots increases

The number of hot spots in West Kalimantan has increased rapidly in the past two weeks, from a dozen to over 100, raising concerns over air pollution and the disruption of flights at the province’s Supadio Airport

Severianus Endi and Rizal Harahap (The Jakarta Post)
Pontianak/Pekanbaru
Fri, August 19, 2016

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Concerns grow in Pontianak as number of hot spots increases

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he number of hot spots in West Kalimantan has increased rapidly in the past two weeks, from a dozen to over 100, raising concerns over air pollution and the disruption of flights at the province’s Supadio Airport.

Haze resulting from forest fires has covered Dumai, Riau, too.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, detected 177 hot spots in nine of the province’s 14 regencies or cities as of Wednesday morning.

In anticipation of potential haze, the West Kalimantan Disaster Mitigation Agency plans to soon bring two helicopters to the province, like it did last year.

“The helicopters are needed for water bombing and air patrols,” the agency’s head, TTA Nyarong, said on Thursday.

As part of the province’s readiness, he said the provincial administration had established a taskforce to anticipate potential technical problems.

Another taskforce has been set up specifically to organize mass prayers to ask for rain.

Nyarong said, however, that compared to last year, the number of hot spots had decreased by 80 percent due to the absence of the El Niño weather phenomenon.

By August last year, 1,000 hot spots had been detected. This year, for the same period, the figure is just 200.

Haze has also been routinely detected at night and in the morning across the region although so far the haze has not disrupted flight activities at Supadio Airport in Pontianak.

Meanwhile, at least eight persons have been questioned by the police as witnesses in forest and land fire cases in the province. West Kalimantan Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Suhadi SW said the witnesses were land owners, workers and owners of the land next to the burned hectares.

“It’s not impossible that they will be named suspects,” said Suhadi, adding that a map organized by a joint team of stakeholders showed that 135 subdistricts in the province were prone to fires and were under monitoring.

Last year, the police processed 35 forest and land fire cases, four of which allegedly involved corporations. The other 31 involved individuals. Later, the four cases were dropped due to a lack of evidence.

Pontianak Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Iwan Iman Susilo said his office had so far examined two persons alleged to have cleared land by burning it. The fire allegedly spread to the land bordering their own.

“There are a number of other cases that are still under investigation. Some other cases were dropped due to a lack of supporting evidence,” Iwan said.

West Kalimantan Governor Cornelis called on the owners of oil palm plantation concessions to build artificial lakes or canals to hold water in anticipation of fires.

“Every region has established a fire alert post so people can participate and not just depend on the apparatus,” Cornelis said.

Meanwhile in Riau, the provincial forest and land emergency alert taskforce has succeeded in decreasing the number of hot spots in the province. However, smoke is still emanating from burned land in the area.

Data from the Terra and Aqua satellites collected by the BMKG’s Pekanbaru station showed that as of Thursday morning, there were only 43 hot spots left in Riau, while a day before, the figure was 278, the highest so far this year.

“Of the hotspots detected, 22 are indicated to be fires, with a 70 percent reliability level,” station head Sugarin said on Thursday.

He said the regions confronting forest and land fires included Pujud, Rimba Melintang and Tanah Putih districts in Rokan Hilir, Teluk Meranti in Pelalawan, Bonai Darussalam, Rambah Hilir and Rokan IV Koto in Rokan Hulu and Batang Cenaku in Indragiri Hulu.

Sugarin said forest and land fires had caused haze in the subdistricts located around the fire spots as well as in the city of Dumai on Thursday morning, decreasing visibility from 8 kilometers to just 5 kilometers in Dumai.

Separately, Catur Hargowo, the head of the technical managing unit at Pinang Kampai Airport in Dumai, said the haze on Thursday had not yet disrupted flights at the pioneer airport.

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