Filed under: Forest Fires
Padang, West Sumatra (ANTARA News) – The haze which has been enveloping West Sumatra for the past two days following the emergence of hot spots in a number of locations became thicker on Thursday but domestic and international flight schedules were not yet affected.
Air transport activities were proceeding normally and had remained unaffected up to Thursday, the chief of Minangkabau International Airport (BIM)`s operations division, Satyah Anggara, said here on Thursday.
The haze did not disturb visibility so that flights could go on as scheduled, he said.
“No flight has been canceled or postponed, flight activity is still normal,” he said.
Meanwhile, Amarizal, a spokesman of the Tabing Padang meteorological and geophysics office, said visibility was still normal despite the haze.
He suspected the haze had come from West Sumatra`s neighboring provinces of Jambi and Bengkulu.
However, there might be also hot spots in West Sumatra`s forests as the province was entering the dry season.
“It`s possible part of the haze is from hot spots in West Sumatra,” he said.
Last Tuesday, the NOAA (US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Satellite 18 had detected tens of hot spots in West Sumatra which were causing haze.
Data from the forest service and the natural resources conservation agency showed that there were 27 hot spots in the province on May 17, 2008.
The hot spots emerged because of forest fires and fires created to open new farming areas, a local forestry service officer said.
Of the 27 hot spots, 17 were found in Dharmasraya District, nine in Pesisir Selatan District, two in Sijunjung District, two in Pasaman District, and two in Lima Puluh Kota District.
He reminded local farmers not to put forest trees on fire as such acts were violation of Government Regulation No. 4/2002 which bans the burning of trees in forest areas. (*)
Filed under: Forest Fires
Thirteen hot spots detected in Jambi
Jambi (ANTARA News) – Some 13 hot spots caused by forest fires were detected in Jambi on May 21, 2008, and 12 of them were inside the Kerinci Seblat National Park in Merangin District.
Another hot spot was detected in Tebo District, Gazam of the Jambi environmental impact assessment office, said here on Thursday.
The number was significantly down from 32 hot spots found in Merangin, Sarolangun, Tebo and Bungo Districts, three days ago.
The Jambi provincial administration has set up a forest and plantation fire control command post to monitor fires around the clock. (*)
