Antara News·Indonesia·Thursday, November 5, 2026 at 05:53 AM UTC

Indonesia welcomes Australian support, tackle fires in Kalimantan

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Tri Meilani A, Resinta Sulistiyandari

Indonesia will receive firefighting support from the Australian government, comprising two aircraft and 20 firefighting personnel, to tackle forest and land fires in East Kalimantan from November 6–12, 2026.

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Roderick Bruce Brazier said the assistance includes a C-130 Large Air Tanker aircraft operated by the New South Wales (NSW) Rural Fire Service Australia and a Cessna Citation scout aircraft.

"This deployment of assistance is made possible due to the close cooperation between Australia and Indonesia, and we fully support the Indonesian government's efforts to address these fires," Brazier told reporters at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Jakarta, on Thursday.

Additionally, the National Agency for Disaster Countermeasures (BNPB) has officially welcomed the Australian government's humanitarian assistance operation.

On the occasion, Head of BNPB Lieutenant General Kristomei Sianturi expressed his gratitude for Australia's support.

"We are grateful for the assistance provided, and this is certainly a symbol of friendship between two countries. As President Prabowo Subianto said, good friends help each other in difficult times," Sianturi said.

He added that Australia's deployment of assistance to East Kalimantan followed coordination and a joint technical assessment conducted by both countries.

According to his BNPB's assessment, East Kalimantan remains in need of additional support to tackle forest and land fires, ranking second only to Central Kalimantan in terms of assistance requirements.

Earlier, the Indonesian and Australian technical teams had discussed areas requiring assistance before agreeing to deploy Australian aircraft to East Kalimantan.

Ambassador Brazier explained the C-130 Air Tanker is capable of dropping up to 15,000 liters of water per sortie, with an estimated six sorties per day.

He said the deployment was a follow-up to discussions between Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Dudung Abdurachman, and Australian Minister of Home Affairs, Tony Burke, regarding possible support to address forest and land fires.

The collaboration, says Brazier, is part of the long-standing friendship between the two countries, which have helped each other in disaster mitigation.

In 2020, he noted, Australia also received assistance from BNPB and the Indonesian military during forest fires.

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