President Prabowo Instructs Enhanced Land, Air Operations to Tackle Forest, Land Fires

President Prabowo Subianto directly led steps to accelerate the handling of forest and land fires in West Kalimantan province. In a meeting held shortly after arriving at Supadio Air Force Base, West Kalimantan province, on Saturday (08/22), the Head of State instructed the reinforcement of field operations through deployment of additional personnel, water-bombing helicopters, and Weather Modification Operations.

Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya noted in a written statement that President Prabowo received the latest report regarding the forest and land fire situation. The President emphasized the importance of a rapid and coordinated response, with the primary focus on direct handling of active fire hotspots.

“During the meeting, President Prabowo received the latest report on the forest and land fire situation and underlined the importance of rapid, coordinated, and direct response on the ground,” the Cabinet Secretary stated.

In addition to expediting firefighting efforts, President Prabowo placed special emphasis on the role of regional governments in preventing similar fires from recurring. The Head of State instructed them to take firm action in enforcing regulations and strengthen prevention efforts in their respective regions.

“The President also emphasized that regional governments must strictly enforce regulations within their jurisdictions, while strengthening preventive measures so that forest and land fires do not recur,” the Cabinet Secretary revealed.

As part of efforts to strengthen ground operations, the Government will deploy three additional Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) battalions, comprising approximately 1,500 personnel from outside Kalimantan. According to him, the additional personnel began arriving on Saturday through Sunday morning to reinforce the ground teams already working in the field in their struggle against the forest and land fires.

“An additional three TNI battalions, or approximately 1,500 personnel from outside Kalimantan, are being deployed from today until Sunday morning,” he wrote.

The Cabinet Secretary mentioned that ground personnel would be maximized to extinguish the hotspots. These ground suppression efforts are bolstered from the air by six additional large water-bombing helicopters scheduled to arrive on Saturday afternoon.

“An additional six large water-bombing helicopters are scheduled to arrive this afternoon to strengthen the [ongoing] suppression efforts,” he explained.

In addition to ground and aerial firefighting operations, the Government will expand the execution of Weather Modification Operations. Specialized measures are also directed at peatland areas which have specific fire characteristics, as their hotspots can persist beneath the ground surface.

“[We] are adding more water pumps and drilling equipment, especially in peatland areas, to suppress underground hotspots,” he wrote.

After leading the meeting, President Prabowo continued monitoring from the command post and then proceeded to Limbung village, Sungai Raya district, Kubu Raya regency, to inspect firsthand the areas still burning. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (NST/TM)