Forest and land fires in West Kalimantan have drawn serious attention\nonce again after the number of hotspots surged to over 2,610. The\nNational Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) is optimising weather\nmodification operations to help suppress the spread of fires. BNPB is\nutilising the potential growth of rain clouds in several parts of West\nKalimantan by seeding specific materials so that rain falls more\neffectively in areas requiring forest fire handling.<\/p>\n
Acting Head of the BNPB Data, Information and Disaster Communication\nCentre, Berton SP Panjaitan, said the presence of potential clouds is an\nopportunity to accelerate the extinguishing of fire points and hotspots.\n\u2018BNPB is ready to carry out weather modification operations to seed\nmaterials to increase the potential for rain in the West Kalimantan\nregion,\u2019 he said in Jakarta on Wednesday, 26 August 2026.<\/p>\n
The effort has been underway since Tuesday, 25 August 2026. The air\ntask force, with BNPB support, carried out two flight sorties to seed\n2,000 kilogrammes of salt or NaCl. Seeding was conducted over\nBengkayang, Landak and Sanggau Regencies. Weather modification\noperations continued on Wednesday, 26 August 2026. The BNPB Operations\nControl Centre deployed one flight sortie using a TNI AU Cassa aircraft\nfrom Supadio Air Base, Pontianak. This flight targeted Bengkayang and\nSambas Regencies. The operation is a collaboration between BNPB, the\nMinistry of Defence, BMKG and TNI AU.<\/p>\n
The acceleration of fire suppression was undertaken after the West\nKalimantan Smoke Disaster Handling Post recorded a significant spike in\nhotspots on Tuesday, 25 August 2026. The number reached more than 2,610\npoints. Of that figure, 86 points had a high confidence level, 2,447\npoints had a medium confidence level, and 77 points had a low confidence\nlevel.<\/p>\n
Forest fire conditions have also begun to affect air quality. Several\nareas have even entered the unhealthy to very unhealthy categories. BNPB\nrecorded that Jongkat and Sungai Tebelian areas are in the unhealthy\ncategory, while Sungai Raya is in the very unhealthy category. Forest\nand land fires throughout 2026 have also burned large areas of land.\nCumulatively, the area of land burned from the beginning of the year\nuntil June 2026 reached 38,310.89 hectares.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/west-kalimantan-forest-fire-hotspots-exceed-2-610-bnpb-intensifies-weather-modification-operations-1787745211", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }