REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) reported that the fires that destroyed 4,051 acres of forest, out of the total 11,801 acres, in Sumatra and Kalimantan islands had been extinguished.

"The firemen and other officials are still trying to extinguish the hotspots covering six thousand acres," the Board's Spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said on Friday.

The land and forest fire prevention teams in Sumatra and Kalimantan were assisted by two thousand and two hundred army personnel and one thousand and fifty police personnel. The board's air task force and Disaster Management Agency are still carrying out water bombing and weather modification operations.

Based on the 'Modis' satellite observations on September 25, the hotspots had been increasing, especially in Central Kalimantan, and had recorded one thousand and forty one hotspots. There were 261 hotspots in South Kalimantan, 189 in East Kalimantan and 40 in West Kalimantan. While South Sumatra has 233 hotspots, Lampung has 26 hotspots, Jambi has 5 hotspots and Riau has 2 hotspots.

Fire extinguishing operations by helicopters are still being carried out in the hotspots in Riau, South Sumatera and West Kalimantan provinces. One unit of Bolco helicopter, two units of MI-8 helicopters and a unit of air tractor from the Ministry of Forestry are on the job at Central Kalimantan, which has maximum number of hotspots.

The number of hotspots will be increasing further, especially in Kalimantan. According to the hotspots pattern between 2006 and 2014, the hotspots predominantly occur in Sumatra for about five months, from July to October. The hotspots in Kalimantan occurs from August to October, or for about three months.

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