Jakarta (ANTARA) – A joint firefighting team extinguished 421 hectares of forest and peatland fires in six priority provinces in a single day, Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said here Thursday.
The six provinces are Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan.
Acting Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center Berton SP Panjaitan said ground and air firefighting teams had reached 55 districts and cities across the six provinces as of September 9.
“Overall, we extinguished more than 421 hectares of land. This was the result of hard work by both ground and air firefighting task forces,” he said.
The operation involved 43,951 ground personnel and 55 aircraft, comprising 17 patrol helicopters and 38 water-bombing helicopters, Panjaitan said.
To induce artificial rain, BNPB and Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) conducted weather modification operations using 7,600 kilograms of salt for cloud seeding.
Panjaitan said West Kalimantan and South Sumatra were the current priorities because of widespread hotspots, particularly on peatlands near airports, toll roads and residential areas.
“Following the direction of the BNPB chief, who is currently visiting Kalimantan, firefighting efforts are focused on strengthening ground personnel, who are most effective at extinguishing hotspots in remote areas with limited water access,” he said.
BNPB urged regional governments and relevant ministries and agencies to fully use available equipment and resources to quickly contain forest and land fires and prevent their recurrence during the dry season.
Related news: Indonesia uses 4.6 million liters of water to fight wildfires
Related news: Six priority provinces’ fires are under control: BNPB
Translator: M. Riezko Bima, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2026