JAKARTA, Sept 24 — A NOAA-18 Satellite has detected 187 hotspots of forest and plantation fires across Central Kalimantan Province today, Indonesia’s Antara news agency reported.

“One hundred and eighty-seven hotspots have been detected in all the districts in Central Kalimantan Province, and the highest number (34) of hotspots was detected in East Kotawaringin,” Ananto Setiawan, spokesperson for the Central Kalimantan Emergency Response Post, said today.

Hotspots have also been found in Katingan, West Kotawaringin (25), East Kotawaringin (34), Kapuas (30), Palangka Raya (19), Gunung Emas (5), East Barito (7) and North Barito (5). During September 1 to 23, a total of 1,632 hotspots had been detected in the province, Ananto said.

Ananto remarked that the Mangala Agni Team monitored the hotspots and tried to extinguish the fires.

“The team has been working hard to extinguish the fires. But if the local farmers continue to burn forest areas for farming or plantation purposes, it will create smog in Central Kalimantan,” he explained.

He urged the local communities to report any forest or land fires.

Forests and dry land in Central Kalimantan are easy to catch fire due to the sun’s extreme heat.

“Let us keep vigil and anticipate forest or land fires in Central Kalimantan,” he said.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) is streamlining its efforts to handle the forest fires in South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan and Riau in Indonesia, the agency`s Acting Secretary Dody Ruswandi said here yesterday.

“Right now, our focus is on handling the forest fires in those three provinces, which have the highest number of hotspots,” Dody emphasised.

According to him, the officials from the BNPB and related agencies had tried to extinguish the forest fires through land and air operations.

Moreover, the BNPB`s spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, reported that nine helicopters and a Hercules airplane belonging to the Air Force have been deployed to extinguish the forest fires.

The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) will also carry out the cloud seeding operations till October to extinguish the fires.

“We are optimising our efforts to extinguish the fires and prevent them from spreading,” Sutopo said.

Earlier, it was reported that thick haze had engulfed most of Riau province`s capital city, Pekanbaru, since yesterday morning.

“The haze is very disturbing,” Ardiawan, a 34-year-old local resident, said yesterday.

Ardiawan, who works at a courier company, expressed concern that the haze could harm his health.

Antara reporter yesterday morning observed a thick haze blanketing Pekanbaru, and continued to engulf the city even at noon, reducing visibility for road users.

The Riau government has allocated a budget of Rp10 billion (RM2.7 million) to fight the effects of haze in the area.

Riau`s Deputy Governor Kasiarudin noted that the local government was taking every measure to stop the forest fires from spreading.

“We have established a local disaster mitigation agency, which reports to the governor and related authorities on a daily basis,” Kasiarudin remarked. — Bernama