Satellite will help forest fire detection

SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan (JP): The National Space and Aviation Agency has developed a method to detect, through satellite images, forest fires at their earliest occurrence.

Agus Hidayat, a senior official of the agency, said that with the establishment of a new coordination team to prevent forest fires, such information could be made available quickly to the proper government agencies to act upon.

Agus told reporters that even before the method was developed, the agency already had access to such information from the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since the 1980s but it had not been widely used.

He recalled that in 1987, the agency obtained NOAA data indicting there was dry vegetation in East Kalimantan which should have served as a warning of fire prone conditions. "A major fire did occur later. But the Ministry of Forestry said they received the data too late."

Agus said the agency's latest data showed hot spots in South Sumatra and West Kalimantan with temperatures reaching 52 degree Celsius on Aug. 18 and 24. "Hopefully, these signs were reported promptly to the coordination team."

The team is headed by the Ministry of Forestry and the Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal).

Agus was speaking during a seminar on forest fire prevention with experts from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, as a follow up to a commitment for joint efforts the three governments signed early this year.

The signing itself was prompted by the major forest fires that broke out in various parts of Indonesia, leaving parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan as well as Malaysia and Singapore covered by thick smoke for weeks.

Cheng Lak Seng of Singapore's meteorological office also pointed out at NOAA's satellite images could be used to identify hot spots or signs of increased temperature.

He said further study was needed to reveal whether these hot spots mean the occurrence of fire. He pointed out, however, that such hot spots were detected on Aug. 15 but they disappeared after a few days. (anr)