Rainfall Begins, Areas Affected by Forest and Land Fires Fall Significantly

JAKARTA — The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded a significant reduction in areas affected by forest and land fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan on Tuesday (27 October 2026). The improvement was attributed to rainfall beginning in several areas.

Berton SP Panjaitan, acting head of the BNPB’s Centre for Disaster Data, Information and Communication, said that only one province in Sumatra—South Sumatra—was still reporting fires. The area still burning there was estimated at about 23 hectares.

“We should be grateful that, at present, only one province in Sumatra, South Sumatra, is reporting forest and land fires, covering an area of 23 hectares,” he said at an online press conference on Tuesday (27 October 2026).

Fires in other parts of Sumatra, including Jambi and Lampung, were reported to have been extinguished, as rain began falling in those areas.

“We hope this province will also reach zero, like the others, particularly because of natural rainfall,” Berton said.

In Kalimantan, fires were still reported in Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and West Kalimantan. The total area burned in the three provinces was still estimated at 1,566 hectares, although this represented a 50 per cent reduction from the previous day.

“We also hope natural rain will fall soon in these three provinces. We will, of course, carry out cloud seeding if needed to generate rainfall, which is something we can do at present,” he said.