Forest Fires Spread Across Multiple Regions, Government Deploys Helicopters and Water Bombing
The government is conducting cross-agency coordination to accelerate the extinguishing of forest and land fires (karhutla) occurring in several regions of Indonesia. West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS) in East Java are areas receiving particular attention.
Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi stated that the government is continuously coordinating with various parties to ensure that hotspots can be extinguished immediately and the fires do not spread further. The handling involves local governments, the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), the National Police (Polri), the Ministry of Forestry, and conservation area managers.
“Several areas with a very high number of hotspots are West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and a significant fire in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java,” Prasetyo said in a press statement after a meeting at the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Jakarta on Monday (10/8/2026).
Prasetyo explained that the handling of the fire in the Bromo Tengger Semeru area is being carried out through coordination with the East Java Provincial Government, the Regional Military Commander (Pangdam), the Regional Police Chief (Kapolda), the Minister of Forestry, and officials from the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Agency.
“We continue to coordinate with the East Java Provincial Government, Pangdam, Kapolda, the Minister of Forestry, and the head of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Agency to make every possible effort to carry out the extinguishing process as soon as possible so that it does not spread further,” he said.
In addition to direct firefighting on the ground, the government has coordinated with the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) to design weather modification operations (OMC). This measure is one of the options to assist in handling the fires amidst extremely dry weather conditions.
However, Prasetyo noted that weather modification cannot be carried out at all hotspots. Therefore, the government continues to monitor the development of the fires periodically to determine the possible handling measures for each region.
The government is also preparing aerial firefighting support. Equipment such as helicopters and aircraft for water bombing are being coordinated to assist in the forest and land fire operations.
“Furthermore, equipment including water bombing, helicopters, and aircraft that can help tackle the forest and land fires, in accordance with the instructions and orders of the President last night, are all being coordinated today,” Prasetyo said.