BNPB Deploys 15,000 Personnel to Tackle Forest Fires in West Kalimantan
The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has deployed 15,091 personnel from joint task forces and conducted 520,000 litres of aerial water spraying to extinguish forest and land fires in West Kalimantan Province.
BNPB Head Suharyanto, in a statement in Jakarta on Thursday, emphasised that this large-scale deployment is a direct follow-up to instructions from Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka regarding land wetting and protecting residents from the dangers of smoke in West Kalimantan.
“We have established an OMC (Operational Management Centre) post and coordinate with BMKG (Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency) every day. In line with the directives of the President and Vice President, whenever there is even the slightest opportunity for cloud growth, we execute OMC to moisten the land so that the fire does not spread,” he said.
He explained that this massive intervention was undertaken following the deterioration of the Air Pollution Standard Index (ISPU) in West Kalimantan to ‘Dangerous’ levels, which has triggered 1,337 cases of acute respiratory infections (ISPA) and forced the extension of remote learning for school students.
Regarding aerial firefighting operations, nine water-bombing helicopters have been deployed, recording 84 water drops in the Ketapang area, supported by three OMC aircraft seeding salt (Sodium Chloride/NaCl) across seven regencies to trigger artificial rain.
Suharyanto emphasised that this represents the BNPB’s commitment to continuously mobilise logistics, provide personal protective equipment for field officers, and tighten cross-agency synergy to ensure the safety of communities in all areas affected by the fires.
Previously, these strategic instructions were delivered by Vice President Gibran during a visit to the Emergency Forest Fire Management Post in Guntung Damar, Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, on Thursday morning, alongside BNPB Head Suharyanto.
The Vice President emphasised the need for special protection schemes for children and vulnerable groups against smoke exposure, requesting that the BNPB prioritise ground and aerial firefighting in areas surrounding school environments.
Regarding plans to resume in-person teaching and learning (KBM) in affected areas, the Vice President urged schools and local governments to coordinate closely with students’ families to ensure health and safety aspects are met.
Furthermore, the Vice President requested that weather modification operations be accelerated more aggressively by seeding weather engineering materials directly whenever potential rain clouds are detected without delay, in accordance with the directives of President Prabowo Subianto.