How Much Forest Fire Area Remains Unextinguished in Indonesia? - Tempo.co English

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - About 96.07 hectares of forest and land fire areas remained unextinguished across six priority provinces in Indonesia as of September 28, 2026, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said.

The figure was down 62.29 hectares from the previous day as authorities intensified joint firefighting operations on the ground and from the air.

BNPB Acting Head of the Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center Berton SP Panjaitan said the total burned area across the six provinces had reached 527.6 hectares, with 431.53 hectares extinguished.

"Based on updated data as of September 28, 2026, the total burned area in the six priority provinces reached 527.6 hectares, with 431.53 hectares successfully extinguished. The area that remains unextinguished currently stands at 96.07 hectares," Berton said at a press conference on forest and land fire response at the Coordinating Ministry for Political and Security Affairs in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The 96.07 hectares represented a decline from the 158.36 hectares recorded on September 27.

The largest reductions were recorded in Central Kalimantan, where the remaining fire area fell by 46.70 hectares, followed by South Kalimantan with 17.74 hectares, Jambi with 1.50 hectares, and West Kalimantan with 1 hectare.

Meanwhile, the unextinguished area increased by 4.15 hectares in South Sumatra and 0.5 hectares in Riau.

Of the 431.53 hectares extinguished, ground operations accounted for 369.03 hectares, while aerial operations covered 62.5 hectares.

Berton said 59,035 task force personnel had been deployed for ground operations across the six priority provinces: Riau with 14,837 personnel, West Kalimantan with 14,575, South Sumatra with 11,026, South Kalimantan with 7,927, Jambi with 5,984, and Central Kalimantan with 4,686.

In addition to deploying firefighting pumps, portable tanks, and water injection into peat layers, BNPB has strengthened aerial operations with 56 aircraft and helicopters. The fleet includes 43 water-bombing aircraft and 13 units for patrols and weather modification operations.

Berton said BNPB, the Indonesian Military (TNI), National Police (Polri), Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), and local governments were continuing to intensify ground-wetting operations and cloud seeding.

The operations face challenges including heavy haze, shifting wind directions, and limited water sources in peatland areas.

He said the authorities would continue the efforts to minimize the impact of smoke on public health and daily activities.