By Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil
JAKARTA, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- The Indonesian government has been in communication with neighbouring countries over the potential cross-border impact of haze from its forest and land fires, according to Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi.
Prasetyo said communication had taken place both informally and through formal channels led by Foreign Minister Sugiono.
“That is why we are trying to deal with these forest and land fires as quickly as possible,” he said on Sunday, according to Antara news agency.
Prasetyo said on Saturday that West Kalimantan continued to record widespread hotspot activity. Authorities had detected 3,100 medium-confidence and 406 low-confidence hotspots mainly concentrated in regencies in the southern and eastern parts of the province.
He said four corporations in West Kalimantan were also under investigation over suspected violations linked to the forest and land fires.
Amid heightened fire risk and following instructions from President Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia announced on Saturday the deployment of about 1,500 additional military personnel and six large water-bombing helicopters to reinforce firefighting operations in West Kalimantan.
In its latest update on Sunday, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said the government continued to monitor the potential impact of transboundary haze and coordinate across ministries and agencies in line with developments on the ground.
BNPB Chief Lieutenant General Suharyanto said the agency was intensifying efforts to control forest and land fires in Kalimantan by resuming Weather Modification Operations (OMC), deploying additional helicopters, and strengthening ground firefighting operations.
“For Kalimantan, we continue to strengthen the ground fleet, add helicopters, and OMC has resumed today.
“With all these efforts, we are optimistic that together we can soon bring the forest and land fires in Kalimantan under control,” he said in a statement.
According to the statement, BNPB currently has 30 helicopters on standby for water-bombing operations and aerial patrols in Kalimantan, while ground operations are being reinforced with additional protective equipment, high-pressure water pumps, and up to 100 water tanker trucks for each province, depending on requirements.
Suharyanto said forest and land fires in Kalimantan posed particular challenges as many occurred on peatlands, where embers could remain beneath the surface even when fires appeared to have been extinguished.
-- BERNAMA