BNPB detects 1,487 hotspots with forest fire potential across Kalimantan
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has detected 1,487 hotspots that could potentially develop into forest and land fires (karhutla) spread across most of Kalimantan.
Acting Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Centre, Berton SP Panjaitan, said in a statement in Jakarta on Friday that, based on NOAA-20 satellite monitoring up to Thursday (20/8), the highest concentration of hotspots was in Central Kalimantan with 767 points and West Kalimantan with 560 points.
“Meanwhile, in South Kalimantan and East Kalimantan, 74 points were detected respectively, and North Kalimantan had three points,” he said.
According to him, the distribution of hotspots is a serious concern for the government to prevent them from spreading into forest and land fires.
“To anticipate the impacts from spreading, BNPB together with regional governments continues to strengthen preparedness, monitoring and early detection of potential forest and land fires and ensure the availability of firefighting infrastructure,” he said.
BNPB is also urging the public to collectively increase vigilance and promote awareness campaigns against land burning activities during this year’s dry season, which is drier due to the active El Niño phenomenon.
Although simple, the campaign is considered important for tackling the dangers of forest and land fires, including respiratory problems from exposure to smoke pollution, disruption to economic activity and massive ecosystem damage.
“If members of the public know of or see a fire incident, immediately report it to the local authorities so that handling can be carried out quickly and effectively,” he stressed.
In Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, for example, air quality in the regency has deteriorated over the past 24 hours to extreme or very unhealthy levels due to high concentrations of fine particulate matter PM2.5.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported that PM2.5 concentrations in Banjarbaru reached 389.4 micrograms per cubic metre at 07.00 Wita and fell into the hazardous category, far exceeding the threshold of 250.5 micrograms per cubic metre for that category.
In Central Kalimantan, smoke haze from forest and land fires has cancelled flights to and from Haji Muhammad Sidik Muara Teweh Airport in North Barito Regency over the past two days.
Flights at Singkawang Airport in West Kalimantan were also temporarily halted entirely on Friday due to increasingly thick smoke haze, which caused visibility to fall below the safe operational threshold for aviation.