Prabowo Says South Sumatra Forest Fires Under Control
President Prabowo Subianto has stated that the forest and land fire situation in South Sumatra is currently under control, although the problem of smoke remains a concern.
This was conveyed by Prabowo while leading a coordination meeting on forest fire handling at the command post in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Monday (24/8/2026).
“South Sumatra is in a controlled state, it is just the problem of smoke, because earlier the position was at its lowest,” said Prabowo, after hearing reports from regional officials.
Prabowo also questioned the steps being taken by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) to deal with the smoke problem that is still emerging in several areas of South Sumatra.
“Does the BNPB have no efforts to eliminate the smoke, whether it can be done with aircraft or how?” asked Prabowo.
Expert Staff to the Head of BNPB, Brigadier General (Ret.) TNI Bambang Eko Pratolo, explained that forest fire handling has so far been carried out using two main methods, namely weather modification operations and water bombing.
In addition to air operations, the BNPB has also deployed ground units to handle fire spots that are difficult to reach, especially locations that do not have adequate water sources.
“In many areas, fire spots that do not support water sources, we coordinate with the Ground Task Force to resolve them,” said Bambang Eko.
Upon hearing this explanation, Prabowo requested that locations that have difficulty obtaining water be assisted with the construction of boreholes.
199 Hectares Still Burning in South Sumatra
On this occasion, Army Chief of Staff Maruli Simanjuntak reported to the president that the area of land still burning in South Sumatra is only 199 hectares.
“From the data that was conveyed earlier, it is now even better here, actually the burning area is 199 hectares,” said Maruli.
In response, Prabowo decided not to provide additional helicopters. He asked the forest fire task force team to maximise existing facilities to extinguish the fires that are occurring.
“Thank you, Army Chief of Staff, meaning Mr Yusuf should hold off on the additional helicopters for now, and the air task force should carry it out, deploy the pilots, they are asked to … be careful, but this. I think 200 (199) hectares can be closed in the near future, and later all teams including prevention, the regional military commander, the regional police chief, patrols,” said Prabowo.
Previously, the Head of the South Sumatra Regional Disaster Management Agency, Iqbal Alisyahbana, reported on the forest fire conditions in South Sumatra during his presentation. The number of hotspots reached 12,956, including in Ogan Komering Ilir Regency with 2,435 points, Musi Banyuasin with 2,139 points, and Muara Enim with 1,909 points.
“The number of hotspots has increased significantly this August, where in July there were 2,096 hotspots, increasing up to the 23rd to 8,044 hotspots occurring in South Sumatra,” he said.
The total area of land burned in South Sumatra up to 23 August 2026 reached 1,926 hectares. This area places South Sumatra in 18th position out of 36 provinces in Indonesia, with a total recapitulation of forest fires reaching 1,723 incidents.
Regarding the air pollution index in Palembang City, it falls into the very unhealthy category, as do nine other cities.
“Only two cities are still in the good category, namely Musi Rawas and Musi Selatan,” he said.