Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) affirmed that firefighting personnel and equipment remain on standby to mitigate the emergence of new hotspots amid ongoing forest and land fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
“We are certainly keeping both personnel and equipment on standby in the districts and cities where fires have occurred,” Acting Head of the BNPB’s Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Center Berton SP Panjaitan said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
Berton added that the standby personnel are deployed across several provinces, including 16,387 personnel in Central Kalimantan, 14,458 in West Kalimantan, 12,287 in South Sumatra, and 7,927 in South Kalimantan.
In addition to personnel, BNPB maintains wildfire suppression equipment on standby through Regional Disaster Mitigation Agencies (BPBD), local governments, as well as district- and city-level task forces.
Berton stated that BNPB is maintaining this state of readiness despite a reported drop in hotspots across several regions. The move, he explained, ensures that personnel and equipment remain available if fires reemerge.
For aerial operations, BNPB has placed 61 aircraft on standby, comprising 24 for patrols and cloud-seeding operations and 37 for water bombing.
Cloud-seeding operations are being conducted in Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and South Sumatra to support land wetting and mitigate the risk of fires spreading.
According to him, rainfall in several regions has supported firefighting efforts, particularly by rewetting burned land.
“Hopefully, it will continue to rain so that all the fires are put out, and any smoldering underground embers are completely extinguished,” he added.
He noted that as of October 28, the burned area across the four provinces reached 359 hectares.
“In detail, Central Kalimantan recorded 10 hectares, South Kalimantan 75 hectares, West Kalimantan 12 hectares, and South Sumatra 262 hectares,” he said.
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Translator: Tri Meilani, Raka Adji
Editor: Primayanti
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