JAKARTA, Oct 1 — Indonesia continues to battle forest and land fires across four provinces, with fires still affecting more than 72 hectares.
Joint firefighting teams, backed by aerial support, extinguished nearly 3,800 hectares of forest and land fires across six priority provinces over the past week.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency's (BNPB) Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Centre acting head Berton Panjaitan said the remaining affected areas were in South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, Jambi, and West Kalimantan as of yesterday.
“Integrated ground and aerial operations, including weather modification technology, continue to be optimised, with priority given to active fires, peatlands, subsurface fires, areas with high potential for spread, as well as airports and settlements,” he said in a statement today.
South Sumatra had the largest area still requiring firefighting efforts at 28.5 hectares, followed by Central Kalimantan with 27.6 hectares, Jambi with 14 hectares, and West Kalimantan with 2.34 hectares, he said.
Berton added that the operations involved 59,035 ground personnel across six priority provinces, supported by water pumps, portable water tanks, and equipment to inject water into deep peat.
Aerial support comprised 56 aircraft, including 43 water-bombing helicopters and 13 aircraft for patrol and weather modification operations.
South Sumatra accounted for the largest area extinguished from Thursday (September 24) to yesterday at 1,554.46 hectares, followed by Central Kalimantan with 846 hectares, Jambi with 477.50 hectares, West Kalimantan with 413.30 hectares, South Kalimantan with 349.44 hectares, and Riau with 96.03 hectares.
