West Java Forest and Land Fires August 2026: 196 Hectares Burned in 132 Locations

A prolonged drought affecting West Java has triggered a significant increase in forest and land fire (karhutla) incidents. As of Tuesday (25/8), the West Java Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) recorded that 132 locations have been affected by fires spread across 19 regencies and cities.

BPBD West Java spokesperson Hadi Rahmat said the distribution of forest and land fires has now reached 153 villages in 91 sub-districts. Based on accumulated data up to August, the total area of forest and land burned has reached 196.4 hectares.

Sukabumi Regency is the area with the most severe environmental damage. The area of land burned in that region reached 49.20 hectares. It is followed by Majalengka Regency and Kuningan Regency.

In addition to land area, BPBD also highlighted the intensity of fires at several points. Sumedang Regency recorded the highest frequency of incidents with 20 fire events, followed by Majalengka Regency with 15 incidents and Bandung Regency with 13 incidents.

The trend of forest and land fires in West Java this year has emerged earlier than usual. The first incident was reported in February in Bandung Regency. As the peak of the dry season approaches, the number of hotspots and the area affected have continued to escalate through August.

Hadi Rahmat stressed that increased vigilance is urgently needed because the burned land continues to expand and its distribution continues to grow into new areas of West Java.