Forest and Land Fire Hotspots Down in 4 Provinces, Ministry of Forestry Alerts 53 Air Fleet

A total of 53 Air Fleets were alerted

Apart from land operations, the government is alerting 53 air fleets in Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra (Sumsel), South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan (Kalteng) and West Kalimantan (Kalbar).

A total of 19 fleets are used for air patrols and supporting OMC. Meanwhile, 34 other fleets were deployed for water bombing operations.

Fleet deployment is adjusted to fire developments, weather conditions and the needs of officers in the field. Air operations are focused on suppressing the spread of the fire while strengthening ground firefighting.

The Ministry of Forestry reminds that Hotspots are an indication of surface temperature anomalies detected by satellites. This data does not always show one fire incident because one fire can be read as several Hotspots.

Therefore, each point detected needs to be verified through inspection and monitoring of actual conditions in the field.

Smoke Still Impairs Visibility

The reduction in Hotspots in a number of provinces has not completely eliminated the impact of the haze. PM2.5-based air quality monitoring shows that several areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan are still in the unhealthy to very unhealthy category.

In fact, there are areas in Kalimantan where the air quality is in the dangerous category. Most of the rest of Indonesia is in the good to moderate category.