Indonesia battles raging fires as 72ha remain ablaze

JAKARTA: Indonesia continues to battle forest and land fires across four provinces, with fires still affecting over 72ha.

Joint firefighting teams, backed by aerial support, extinguished nearly 3,800ha of forest and land fires across six priority provinces over the past week.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Disaster Data, Information and Communication Centre acting head Berton Panjaitan said the remaining affected areas were in South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, Jambi and West Kalimantan as of Wednesday.

"Integrated ground and aerial operations, including weather modification technology, continue to be optimised, with priority given to active fires, peatlands, subsurface fires, areas with high potential for spread, as well as airports and settlements," he said in a statement on Thursday.

South Sumatra had the largest area still requiring firefighting efforts at 28.5ha, followed by Central Kalimantan with 27.6ha, Jambi with 14ha and West Kalimantan with 2.34ha, he said.

Berton said the operations involved 59,035 ground personnel across six priority provinces, supported by water pumps, portable water tanks and equipment to inject water into deep peat.

Aerial support comprised 56 aircraft, including 43 water-bombing helicopters and 13 aircraft for patrol and weather modification operations.

He said South Sumatra accounted for the largest area extinguished from Sept 24 to 30 at 1,554.46ha, followed by Central Kalimantan with 846ha, Jambi with 477.50ha, West Kalimantan with 413.30 ha, South Kalimantan with 349.44ha and Riau with 96.03ha.- BERNAMA