Indonesia deploys 1,500 troops, six helicopters to fight fires

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3 hours ago

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia is deploying 1,500 additional military personnel and six helicopters to fight forest and land fires in West Kalimantan, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said here Saturday.

“Several mitigation measures have been prepared, including three Indonesian military (TNI) battalions, comprising about 1,500 personnel, from outside Kalimantan,” Wijaya said.

The troops will be deployed through Sunday morning to help extinguish remaining hotspots across the province.

The government is also sending six heavy-lift helicopters to conduct water-bombing operations and strengthen aerial firefighting efforts.

Authorities will also intensify cloud-seeding operations, timing weather modification efforts with rain forecasts in several areas across the province.

The measures underscore the government’s commitment to accelerating firefighting operations and containing the fires, Wijaya said.

The deployments follow a coordination meeting led by President Prabowo Subianto at Supadio Air Force Base in West Kalimantan to accelerate ground firefighting efforts.

After the meeting, Prabowo visited Limbung Village in Kubu Raya District to inspect fire-affected areas and assess mitigation efforts firsthand.

The West Kalimantan Disaster Mitigation Agency, or BPBD, said forest and land fires had burned more than 38,310 hectares across the province from January through August 2026.