Public Works Ministry supplies water to tackle forest and land fires in Muaro Jambi

The Ministry of Public Works is supplying water to support the handling of forest and land fires in Muaro Jambi Regency, Jambi Province.

Public Works Minister Dody Hanggodo said the ministry continues to strengthen preparedness for potential drought and forest and land fires during the 2026 dry season. These efforts are carried out through enhanced cross-sector coordination and the optimisation of infrastructure and water resources to support disaster management on the ground.

“The Ministry of Public Works does not only focus on infrastructure development, but also ensures that this infrastructure can be utilised optimally to support disaster mitigation, maintain water availability, protect the environment, and guarantee public safety,” said Dody in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Public Works, through the Jambi Sumatera VI River Basin Agency, together with the Forest and Land Fire Task Force, is supporting the handling of plantation land fires in Pematang Gajah Village, Jambi Luar Kota District, Muaro Jambi Regency, Jambi Province.

Based on monitoring results in the field, the fire has been successfully extinguished. However, operations are still continuing through cooling-down activities to ensure there are no remaining hotspots and to prevent the potential for reignition, especially in peatland areas which carry a risk of re-burning.

In handling the incident, the Jambi Sumatera VI River Basin Agency team carried out integrated extinguishing and cooling operations together with the Regional Disaster Management Agency, the Indonesian National Armed Forces, the National Police, the Environment Ministry’s Manggala Agni fire brigade, and other elements of the Forest and Land Fire Task Force.

Firefighting support was also reinforced with one Regional Disaster Management Agency tanker truck with a capacity of 5,000 litres and one Environment Ministry Manggala Agni tanker truck with a capacity of 4,000 litres.

The Ministry of Public Works, through the Jambi Sumatera VI River Basin Agency, will continue to coordinate with the regional government and all elements of the Forest and Land Fire Task Force to ensure that extinguishing and cooling activities run optimally until the location is declared safe.