BRIN Develops Fire-Spread Prediction Research to Anticipate Forest and Land Fires

The head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Arif Satria, said the agency was developing research into a fire-spread model to predict the risk of forest and land fires. The research is part of long-term efforts to mitigate such fires, in line with President Prabowo Subianto’s direction.

“Thankfully, BRIN is currently conducting research on a fire-spread model for forest and land fire locations,” Arif told reporters at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Tuesday (27 October 2026).

Arif explained that the research had entered the validation stage. Through the model’s development, BRIN hopes to be able to forecast the risk of forest and land fires three to six months in advance.

“Now the only thing left is the validation process, so that we can predict what may happen three or six months from now in relation to these fires. I think this predictive capability is very important,” he said.

BRIN will also work with a number of universities. The collaboration is intended to strengthen the research and develop a model that can help predict the risk of forest fires.

“As I mentioned earlier, we have also begun work on research into a fire-spread model, and we will work with various universities on how to predict forest fires themselves,” Arif said.

In addition to developing the predictive model, BRIN is responsible for detecting hotspots every day using satellite technology and satellite imagery. The resulting information is shared with relevant agencies for follow-up action.

“I think BRIN’s current task is to detect hotspots daily and share them with various agencies, including the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the Ministry of Forestry, because BRIN has authority over satellites and satellite imagery,” he said.

“We make use of the satellite imagery held by BRIN for various purposes, one of which is hotspot detection,” Arif added.