In Indonesia, nearly 50,000 people are fighting massive wildfires
In Indonesia, nearly 50,000 firefighters and emergency response workers, supported by dozens of helicopters, are battling forest and other wildfires in several regions of the country. Dry weather and intensifying El Niño conditions have increased the risk of new fires at the peak of the dry season, Indonesian officials said.
According to authorities in East Java, the largest fire is raging in Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park. There, the fire has scorched about 743 hectares of land, including dry grasslands, vegetation, and protected edelweiss flowers. The flames have spread to the Penanjakan area—a popular viewpoint for tourists visiting Mount Bromo. The park has been closed to visitors indefinitely. There have been no reports of casualties or building evacuations.
In Jambi Province, nearly 6,000 firefighters and three helicopters have been deployed to fight the fire. Efforts are being hampered by deep peat soils, limited water supplies, hard-to-reach terrain, and strong winds.
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According to Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry, from January to June, fires in the country consumed more than 107,000 hectares of land—twice as much as in all of 2023. The country’s meteorological agency has warned that August and September are expected to be the most critical months in terms of fire risk.
Authorities are also unable to carry out cloud seeding, as monitoring has not detected any clouds suitable for such operations. Fires were reported in the provinces of Riau, Jambi, and South Sumatra on the island of Sumatra, as well as in Central and South Kalimantan on Borneo. In these regions, 48,890 hectares of peatlands were on fire.
