REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Terra and Aqua satellites detected a total of 801 hotspots, indicating forest and plantation fires, across Indonesia, on Monday. The hotspots were of moderate- and high-risk categories, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), noted in a statement.

In West Kalimantan Province, 272 hotspots were detected. "Of the 272 hotspots, 149 are categorized as moderate and 123 as high risk," he stated.

Haze shrouded Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan Province, from dawn until 7:30 a.m. local time on Monday and later disappeared due to the wind.

Earlier, Ins. Gen. Didi Haryono, the West Kalimantan police chief, urged local inhabitants to help put out wildfires as the efforts could not be made by the military and police personnel alone. Banjarmasin, the provincial capital of South Kalimantan, and North Barito in Central Kalimantan were also shrouded by haze on Monday morning.

The ongoing prolonged drought has caused water shortage in several regions, such as in the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and West Java. It triggered fires in forest areas, particularly in West Kalimantan and Central Java.

In West Kalimantan, schools were recently closed, as forest fires produced smoke that could affect the health of students. The national disaster mitigation office deployed four helicopters to help extinguish the fires.

Meanwhile, through legal enforcement and firm control, the Indonesian government has managed to reduce forest fires by 96.5 percent across the country during the 2015-2017 period.

Based on data obtained from NOAA's satellites, 21,929 hotspots were found across Indonesia in 2015, and the figure dropped to 3,915 in 2016, and again 2,257 in 2017, according to Raffles B. Panjaitan, director of forest and plantation fire control of the environmental affairs and forestry ministry.

The wild fires had razed a total of 2,611,411 hectares in 2015, and the figure decreased to 438,360 hectares in 2016 and again to 165,464 hectares in 2017.

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