REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANDA ACEH -- A total of 35 hotspots indicating wildfires, were detected by the Terra and Aqua satellites in Aceh Province on Tuesday morning.

"Based on the monitoring conducted this morning at 7 a.m. Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB), the number is the same as compared to that recorded yesterday afternoon at 5 p.m. WIB, which is 35 hotspots," Zakaria of the Blang Bintang meteorology office noted here, Tuesday.

The hotspots were spread across eight districts and cities of Aceh, particularly in West Aceh.

Of the total, four each were found in the sub-districts of Johan Palawan and Sama Tiga and two each in the sub-districts of Kaway Enam Belas and West Woyla in West Aceh District.

Nagan Raya District had 11 hotspots comprising eight in Darul Makmur Sub-district and three in Kuala Sub-district.

Three hotspots were respectively found in Aceh Besar, Aceh Jaya, Aceh Singkil, and Aceh Tengah.

Since last weekend, the cities of Meulaboh and Lhoksemawe were shrouded by haze arising from forest fires.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Environmental Affairs and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya had stated on Monday that water bombing was urgently needed to extinguish land and forest fires in West Aceh District.

"I have coordinated with the National Disaster Management Agency in West Aceh, so we must conduct water bombing," the minister said before attending a cabinet meeting at the state palace in Jakarta.

Nurbaya revealed that her side had made efforts to manually extinguish land and forest fires, pending the water bombing operation, which is expected to be conducted on Tuesday (July 25).

Earlier, the National Disaster Management Agency in West Aceh (BPBA) had reported that burnt land in West Aceh District continued to increase until it reached 60 hectares due to the drought.

"We join in the efforts to extinguish the fires (in West Aceh). Some 60 hectares of land has caught fire," Yusmadi, head of BPBA in Banda Aceh, stated on Monday.

Last June, the Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency had detected 28 hotspots, indicating forest and plantation fires, in four provinces located on Sumatra Island.

The hotspots were found in the provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, and Lampung, Slamet Riyadi, head of the data section of the Pekanbaru meteorology station, stated.

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