BNPB Fights Forest, Land Fires until Rainy Season

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) is committed to continuing operations to extinguish wildfires until the rainy season arrives. According to forecasts from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), the rainy season is expected to begin in October 2026.

BNPB Chief Suharyanto said efforts to tackle forest and land fires would continue at least until natural rainfall begins. Firefighting operations have been carried out by ground and aerial task forces, supported by cloud seeding operations (known locally as OMC) to help generate rain in areas where fires are still burning.

“We will continue working tirelessly, at least until the natural rainy season begins,” Suharyanto said during an online meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Monday, 7 September 2026.

Suharyanto expressed hope that the weather modification operations conducted in multiple phases would soon bring rain to areas affected by the fires. Rainfall is expected to help accelerate firefighting efforts while preventing hotspots from re-emerging, particularly in peatland areas.

BNPB recorded that around 98 percent of peatland fires in six priority provinces had been extinguished. The six provinces are West Kalimantan, Riau, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Sumatra, and Jambi, with a total burnt area of 72,009.10 hectares.

Of the total burnt area, around 939.45 hectares remained under firefighting efforts. According to Suharyanto, tackling fires in peatlands presents particular challenges because fires can re-emerge even after they have been declared extinguished.

“We extinguished these fires through ground and aerial operations. Whether the remaining 939.45 hectares will decrease after today’s operations, we hope it will, Mr. President,” he explained.

To tackle wildfires across the six priority provinces, BNPB has deployed 43,481 personnel from BNPB, regional disaster management agencies (BPBD), the Indonesian Military (TNI), the Indonesian National Police (Polri), the Fire Care Community, Manggala Agni, and volunteers. The government continues to strengthen field operations to control the fires until the rainy season arrives.