Hotspots in Indonesia Surge to 1,104, Kalimantan Worst Affected
JAKARTA: The number of fire hotspots across Indonesia surged more than fourfold to 1,104 on Sunday.
Kalimantan was the worst affected as prolonged forest and land fires continued to generate smoke and haze, worsening air quality in several provinces.
The Ministry of Forestry said the number of forest and land fire hotspots had increased from 270 on Saturday, with Central Kalimantan recording the sharpest rise to 495 hotspots from 92 the previous day, while West Kalimantan saw an increase to 174 from 22.
In a statement posted on its social media platform, the ministry said the sharp increase followed several days of relatively low hotspot numbers in Central and West Kalimantan, despite ongoing firefighting operations.
According to the ministry, a total of 61 aircraft remained deployed across the two provinces, including 44 for water-bombing operations and 17 for aerial patrols and weather modification operations.
Air quality deteriorated to very unhealthy and hazardous levels across much of Central Kalimantan, while West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and East Kalimantan recorded unhealthy to very unhealthy air quality levels.
Central and West Kalimantan are among six priority areas for firefighting operations, alongside South Sumatra, South Kalimantan, Jambi and Riau.
“Joint teams continue to tackle forest and land fires through ground firefighting operations, water bombing, aerial patrols, as well as prevention and control measures in priority areas,” the ministry said.
South Sumatra recorded 51 hotspots on Sunday, up from nine on Saturday, while South Kalimantan registered 19 compared with two previously.
Jambi recorded nine hotspots after reporting none the previous day, while Riau remained at zero.
Separately, the Ministry of Transportation said haze had affected 2,458 scheduled domestic flights nationwide between August 11 and October 17, according to a report by the Antara news agency.
Director-General of Civil Aviation Lukman F Laisa said the disruptions involved 1,080 delayed flights, 1,324 cancelled or postponed flights, 22 flights diverted to other airports, six flights forced to return to their departure airports and 26 flights rescheduled to depart earlier.
BERNAMA