926 hot spots detected in W Kalimantan forest

Antara, 16 August 2006:

926 hot spots detected in W Kalimantan forest

Pontianak, (ANTARA News) - The Regional Environmental Impact Control

Agency (Bapedalda) in West Kalimantan has detected 926 hotspots in

the province in the last four days, but no suspects have been

determined so far.

"We have not determined the culprits suspected of sparking the

hotspots as it is not easy to prove those responsible for the

creation of the fire sources," head of West Kalimantan Bapedalda Tri

Budiarto told reporters here Tuesday (8/15).

Profound and intensive investigation into the case based on the

condition of the field is needed to find out the suspects, according

the head of Bapedalda, which had up to Monday, Aug 14, detected 926

hotspots found in all regencies in the province.

Of the 926 hotspots, 215 are detected in Ketapang regency, 210 in

Pontianak, 209 in Sambas, 69 in Sanggau, 67 in Sintang, 63 in Kapuas

Hulu, 46 in Landak, 26 in Bengkayang, 19 in Melawi and one in Sekadau.

Pontianak-based Bapedalda has detected fire sources not only in West

Kalimantan, but also in neighboring regions, including 302 in Central

Kalimantan province and 59 hotspots in Sarawak, East Malaysia.

Based on NOAA satellite?s detection, a hot spot heating up to a

temperature of 316? Kelvin covers about 1.2 ha of land. With that

assumption, the 926 hotspots detected on Monday cover 1,111.2 ha,

mostly located in the forests and plantations, according to Budiarto.