Indonesia Focuses Firefighting On South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan

By Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil

JAKARTA, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Indonesia is focusing firefighting operations on South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan, with 61 aircraft on standby as forest and land fire hotspots remain high or increase in some areas despite a nationwide decline.

Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry Head of Public Relations and International Cooperation Bureau Ristianto Pribadi said the number of high-confidence hotspots across Indonesia fell to 365 as of Monday from 559 a day earlier.

Central Kalimantan recorded the sharpest decline among six priority provinces, with hotspots falling to 37 from 134. South Kalimantan also saw a decline to four from 25, while West Kalimantan dropped to zero from 11 and Riau remained at zero, he said.

South Sumatra, however, moved against the national trend, with its hotspots more than tripling to 96 from 29, making its tally the highest among the six provinces. Jambi, meanwhile, rose to 25 from five.

Ristianto said hotspots did not represent the number of fire incidents but were indications of surface temperature anomalies detected by satellites.

“A single fire incident can be detected as several hotspots, so all indications must still be verified through ground checks or direct field inspections,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Ristianto said particular attention remained on peatland areas, where fires could continue burning below the surface even after flames above ground appeared to have been extinguished.

“Wetting and cooling operations must continue until the location is completely safe,” he said.

Ristianto said firefighting operations remained focused on areas where hotspot activity was increasing or remained high, particularly South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan.

Of the 61 aircraft on standby, 17 were assigned to patrols and weather modification operations and 44 to water bombing, with 55 deployed in the six priority provinces and another six supporting other affected areas.

-- BERNAMA