Indonesia Surrounded by Thousands of Hotspots

At least more than 2,000 hotspots have been detected across Indonesia. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Pekanbaru Station in Riau Province detected a total of 733 hotspots on Sumatra Island based on data updated at 16.00 WIB on Friday (21/8/2026).

BMKG Pekanbaru forecaster Elisa JS Kedang said the hotspots are spread across nine provinces, with the highest surge detected in South Sumatra, which reached 377 points.

“Other areas that also contributed high figures were Bangka Belitung with 100 points and Lampung with 98 points, followed by Riau with 69 points, Jambi 53 points, Riau Islands 17 points, Bengkulu 14 points, West Sumatra 4 points, and North Sumatra 1 point,” she said.

Meanwhile, Riau Province recorded 69 hotspots spread across eight regencies. Pelalawan Regency became the most critical area in Riau with 56 hotspots, followed by Indragiri Hilir Regency with 4 points and Kampar Regency with 3 points.

The remainder were detected in Kepulauan Meranti Regency with 2 points, as well as Bengkalis Regency, Kuantan Singingi Regency, Rokan Hulu Regency and Indragiri Hulu Regency, each recording 1 hotspot.

In recent days, according to Manggala Agni, land fires in Riau have burned more than 700 hectares. The largest areas were in Indragiri Hulu Regency covering 434 hectares and Pelalawan covering 300 hectares.

Besides those two areas, Manggala Agni is also handling a number of land fires in Riau Province, including in Kampar, Siak and Bengkalis regencies.

“For the Sumatra region, the areas currently experiencing rising fire frequency are Riau and South Sumatra. For South Sumatra, Manggala Agni personnel from Jambi have been deployed on assignment for almost 15 days now,” said Ferdian Krisnanto, Head of the Sumatra Region Forest Fire Control Centre.