REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANBARU -- The Terra and Aqua Satellites detected 148 hotspots across Sumatra Island, including 45 in Riau Province on Tuesday morning.
"Based on data captured by the Terra and Aqua satellites today at 7 a.m. local time, a total of 148 hotspots were detected on Sumatra Island, 45 of which were in Riau," Slamet Riyadi, a spokesman of the Pekanbaru meteorology, climatology and geophysics office, noted here, Tuesday.
The 45 hotspots were found in 10 of the province's 12 districts.
The air quality in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau, has been categorized as unhealthy due to the haze arising from the forest, peatland, and plantation fires.
Nine hotspots were each detected in Bengkalis and Indragiri Hilir districts; 8 hotspots in Dumai; 4 each in Pelalawan, Kampar, and Indragiri Hulu; 3 in Kuantan Singingi; 2 in Rokan Hulu; and one each in Rokan Hilir and Meranti.
In addition to Riau Province, 55 hotspots were found in South Sumatra, 35 in Jambi, 9 in Bangka Belitung, and 4 in Lampung.
In the meantime, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has rented a Russian-made Sikorsky helicopter to strengthen its efforts to extinguish the wildfires in Riau Province.
The helicopter arrived at Roesmin Nurjadin Air Force Base here on Saturday (July 25) and started dropping water bombs on the fires on Sunday, Edward Sanger from the Pekanbaru disaster mitigation office stated.
In addition to Sikorsky, the office has already deployed an MI-17 helicopter in an effort to extinguish the blaze.
Sikorsky has a capacity to carry up to four tons of water during each sortie.
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