South Sumatra sees 88 percent drop in wildfire area over 3 years: BNPB

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2 hours ago

Kupang, E Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA) – The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded a drop of more than 88 percent in the forest and land fire burned area in South Sumatra Province over the past three years.

Berton SP Panjaitan, acting head of the BNPB’s Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Center, attributed the achievement to effective early warning systems, quick response from the task force, and cross-sector collaboration in the field.

“Efforts to tackle forest and land fires in South Sumatra over the last three years have led to a significant drop in the burned area, falling by more than 88 percent,” he said in a statement in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), on Tuesday.

Berton outlined that the burned area has declined consistently, falling from 264,165.68 hectares in 2023 to 30,844.96 hectares in 2024, and further shrinking to 11,879.56 hectares in 2025.

Entering the peak of the dry season and the 2026 El Nino phenomenon, the BNPB and the South Sumatra Wildfire Task Force continue to intensify ground and aerial operations to suppress the remaining burned area, which stood at 67.06 hectares as of August 30, 2026.

In the operations, joint teams successfully extinguished fires across 18.36 hectares and are currently focusing on cooling down the remaining 48.7 hectares, particularly in deep peatland areas such as Ogan Komering Ilir and Musi Banyuasin districts.

He added that a total of 11,567 joint personnel have been deployed to support the operations, backed by operational equipment distributed to seven Regional Disaster Mitigation Agencies (BPBD), as well as nine aircraft assigned for patrols, water bombing, and weather modification.

Although the fires in South Sumatra are generally under control, the BNPB urged residents to watch for deteriorating air quality from smoke by wearing masks and avoiding land burning.

“The smoke accumulation briefly triggered a decline in air quality. Palembang’s air quality monitoring station recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 247, which falls into the very unhealthy category on August 30, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. local time,” he noted.