BNPB deploys water bombing helicopters to South Sumatra as fires rage
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has deployed a fleet of patrol helicopters and water bombing helicopters to South Sumatra Province to mitigate the impact of 24 detected fire spots in the region.
The Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Centre, Abdul Muhari, stated in Jakarta on Wednesday that the aerial operation is intended to provide rapid firefighting at fire points that are difficult for ground teams to reach.
“Based on the latest data as of Tuesday (9/6), an accumulation of 24 fire spots has been recorded in several areas of South Sumatra. BNPB continues to provide aerial support in the form of patrol helicopters and water bombing helicopters to accelerate fire control efforts,” he said.
Abdul explained that this aerial water spraying intervention is crucial, considering the accumulated area of burnt land in South Sumatra from the beginning of the year until 8 June 2026 is reported to have reached 182.54 hectares.
In addition to South Sumatra, the escalation of forest and land fires (karhutla) in Sumatra also affects the Riau and Aceh regions, where severe fires were previously reported to have burnt at least 98 hectares of land across two sub-districts in Nagan Raya Regency, Aceh.
For the Nagan Raya area, the local Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) team, alongside the TNI, Polri, and humanitarian volunteers, is focusing on ground-based handling by optimising two water pump units, with half of the total burnt area now successfully contained.
Meanwhile, updated data on forest and land fires in Riau Province shows a relatively more controlled condition, where a two-hectare land fire in the region has been confirmed to be fully extinguished by joint teams.
According to Abdul, the BNPB will ensure intensified coordination with BPBDs across all high-risk clusters in Sumatra to ensure that ground pump machines and aerial patrols can move simultaneously before entering the peak of the dry season, as reported by the analysis from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).
Based on updated BMKG data up to the end of May 2026, the expansion of drought areas has begun in 20 seasonal zones (11.83 per cent of landmass), identified by brownish colours on the national climate distribution map.
The movement of these dry zones is projected to surge drastically this June, entering 198 new seasonal zones or equivalent to 31.6 per cent of the landmass, covering areas from southern DKI Jakarta to most of Kalimantan Island.
Entering July, the dry season movement is expected to spread to another 66 seasonal zones, including western Jambi, East Kalimantan, eastern South Kalimantan, most of Sulawesi, and North Maluku.
Conversely, BMKG has detected local anomalies due to extensive topographical effects in seven seasonal zones (0.68 per cent of landmass) that are actually above normal or wetter, specifically in Bengkulu, northern and southern Gorontalo, and parts of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).