Outdoor fire
Details
This is an expired event!
Event title
South China Sea - Forest fires burn over 48,000 hectares in Indonesia's West Kalimantan
Source
Severity
High
Event date (UTC)
2026-09-15 12:33:54
Last update (UTC)
2026-09-15 12:33:56
Area range
Multiple counties wide event
Address/Affected area(s)
Provinsi Kalimantan Barat
More than 48,000 hectares of land have been scorched by forest and land fires in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province since the beginning of the year, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said Tuesday.
According to Berton S. P. Panjaitan, acting head of the agency's Data, Information and Disaster Communication Center, satellite observations and field surveys put the total affected area at 48,535 hectares.
Nearly 14,760 personnel have been mobilized to contain the fires, supported by five patrol helicopters and nine aircraft conducting water-bombing operations, Berton said.
Authorities detected 19 fire hotspots on Monday, covering an estimated 261 hectares. Fires on about 180 hectares had been put out, while more than 80 hectares were still burning.
Smoke from the fires has pushed air quality to hazardous levels in Mempawah, Pontianak, Melawi, Sambas and Ketapang. Visibility in some locations has dropped to less than one kilometer, although several districts have seen rainfall in recent days, Berton said.
Forest and land fires occur regularly during the dry season in Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan regions, with haze from the blazes sometimes reaching neighboring Southeast Asian countries. ■