JAKARTA: (Bernama) Nearly 900 hectares of forest and land fire remained unextinguished across six priority provinces in Indonesia as of Tuesday (Sept 8) despite weeks of intense ground and aerial firefighting operations.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Disaster Data, Information and Communication Centre acting head Berton Panjaitan said almost 1,500 hectares had burned across West, Central and South Kalimantan, as well as Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra, with more than 550 hectares reported extinguished so far.
He said more than 40,000 personnel were deployed for ground firefighting while aerial operations had dropped more than three million litres of water across the affected provinces, including over one million litres in Riau and more than 780,000 litres in South Kalimantan.
He added that weather modification operations was also carried out in West, Central and South Kalimantan and Riau, while the operation was not carried out in Jambi and South Sumatra due to no potential of rain clouds in the atmosphere.
The operations helped optimise rainfall in parts of South Kalimantan and Riau, with rain also recorded in West Kalimantan, he told an online press conference on Tuesday.
Separately, Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) Information Centre chief Maj Gen Muhammad Nasir said the military had placed 80,026 personnel on standby or deployed nationwide to tackle forest and land fires, including 1,260 additional troops sent from outside affected areas to reinforce operations, particularly in West Kalimantan.
He said another 1,482 personnel had been deployed for a month-long prevention campaign to educate communities about the dangers and wider impact of forest and land burning, including fires caused deliberately or through negligence. - Bernama
