BMKG Reveals Distinctive Characteristics of Peatland and Non-Peatland Forest Fires
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) has revealed fatal differences in the characteristics and danger levels of forest and land fires (karhutla) in peatland areas compared to non-peatland areas.
Speaking at the ANTARA Heritage Center in Jakarta on Thursday, the Head of BMKG, Teuku Faisal Fathuna, stated that these differing fire properties serve as the primary basis for the government in determining priority scales for disaster prevention and management.
“In peatland areas, incomplete combustion occurs. This produces gases that are more hazardous to humans, making forest and land fires in these regions a matter of special concern,” he said.
Fathuni explained that the nature of embers in peatlands presents extremely high mitigation difficulties because the fire pattern spreads beneath the dry surface of the earth. This condition often deceives field officers, as surface flames may appear extinguished while embers continue to smoulder and spread within the deeper layers.
According to him, this characteristic is starkly different from forest fire incidents in non-peatland regions, such as East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and South Papua, where the pattern consists of surface vegetation fires.
Given the high risk of carbon emissions and the systemic impact of spreading subsurface embers, BMKG emphasised that intensive management must be focused on the six provinces with the largest peatland landscapes in Indonesia: Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan.
He noted that intensive handling includes the deployment of weather modification operations, which aim to increase the chances of rain in fire-prone zones by seeding potential clouds with substances such as salt.
“While fires in other regions are also a concern, the six aforementioned provinces require more significant intervention because peatland fires are highly difficult to extinguish; the fire often continues to smoulder underground even after surface flames have been successfully put out by officers,” he added.
Furthermore, he called for all parties to actively participate in forest and land fire prevention efforts, noting that conditions become much harder to manage once a fire has started. He also warned that the 2026 dry season has the potential to be drier than the 30-year average due to the influence of the active El Niño phenomenon.