Gov’t Intensifies Forest and Land Fire Response Across Six Provinces

The Government continues to step up efforts to combat severe forest and land fires in several regions across Indonesia.

In a report to President Prabowo Subianto on Monday (10/12), Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Suharyanto outlined the latest developments in managing the fires.

According to him, efforts to combat the fires currently cover a total area of 639.23 hectares across six priority provinces.

“Six provinces are prioritized for peatland fire management, Mr. President: Central Kalimantan, South Sumatra, South Kalimantan, Jambi, West Kalimantan, and Riau. As of today, field task forces are still tackling fires covering a total of 639.23 hectares, with the largest affected areas in Central Kalimantan,” said the BNPB Head during a hybrid meeting held from the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta.

“Why is the affected area largest there? Because new fires have broken out in Tanjung Puting National Park in West Kotawaringin and Seruyan regencies. As of today, 513.89 hectares have burned there,” Suharyanto added.

He also said the Government continues to intensify firefighting responses through ground and aerial operations.

“We are also deploying water-bombing helicopters to hard-to-reach areas, including Way Kambas National Park, Tanjung Puting in Pangkalan Bun, and East Halmahera in North Maluku,” he added.

Firefighting efforts in Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra, Suharyanto said, are focused on ground operations, adding that water-bombing helicopters in Central Kalimantan were unable to operate due to adverse weather and poor visibility.

“The helicopter was only able to begin operating in South Sumatra today. We will later combine this effort with weather modification operations and expand the fleet. Central Kalimantan is using four aircraft, while South Sumatra is using two aircraft from Pangkal Pinang,” he said.

Suharyanto further said that the Government continues to monitor forecasts from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) for potential rainfall across Indonesia and remains committed to tackling forest and land fires.

“According to BMKG forecasts, we hope natural rainfall will begin from mid-October into November. Once the rainy season begins, we expect the forest and land fires to be brought under control. However, we are not simply waiting for rain; we are working as hard as possible with all the resources at our disposal,” he concluded.  (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (JAS/MEP)