Forest fire`s haze covers Pekanbaru
Forest fire`s haze covers Pekanbaru
23 January 2009
published by www.antara.co.id
Indonesia — Haze coming from forest fires covered Pekanbaru, Riau`s provincial capital, on Friday.
The haze reduced visibility, forcing car drivers and motorcyclists to reduce their speed on the roads.
Despite the haze, air pollution monitor devices placed in several corners of the city showed the air quality to be still good.
The Pekanbaru meteorological and geophysics agency (BMG) reported the haze was not disturbing flights at Pekanbaru`s Sultan Syarif Kasim Airport II.
“Visibility is still at a safe level, namely between three and four kilometers,” Mansur of the local BMG said.
The Riau provincial forestry office has sent three fire fighter teams, with each consists of 45 personnel, and seven forest policemen, to extinguish and investigate the cause of the fire in Bengkali, Dumai and Rohan Hilir districts.
Meanwhile, Syamsurizal of the Riau provincial forestry office said that according to the monitoring data of the NOAA Satellite 18, there were 399 hot spots of forest fires in Riau until Thursday (Jan. 22).
However, according to data of the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), there were only 142 hot spots, while BMG`s data showed just 92 hot spots.
Syamsurizal said that hot spots were found in Bengkali District (256 hot spots), Dumai Town (33), Siak District (12), Pelalawan (9), Rokan Hilir (6), Indragiri Hulu District (4), and Indragiri Hilir District (3).
