Ecobiz.asia — The Indonesian government is mobilizing at least 300 companies and business units in South Kalimantan to conduct simultaneous operations to extinguish forest and land fires, as the province is part of a national food, energy and water self-sufficiency zone.
Deputy Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said the mobilization followed an evaluation of wildfire response efforts over the past 1.5 months, which found fires recurring in several areas that had previously been extinguished.
“Today, we invited no fewer than 300 business units in South Kalimantan to contribute to wildfire prevention and response. We have divided the area into specific zones, and each company will be assigned to deal with its designated zone until the fire is completely extinguished,” Hanif told reporters after a coordination meeting on wildfire management in Jakarta on Wednesday (Sept. 23, 2026).
The operation is part of the implementation of Presidential Instruction No. 11/2026 on strengthening enforcement of the ban on land clearing by burning and controlling forest and land fires. Under the instruction, the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs is also tasked with handling wildfires in areas designated for national food, energy and water self-sufficiency.
Hanif said the government had previously deployed nearly 3,500 personnel per day, more than 300 water pumps and more than 30 heavy equipment units to fight fires in South Kalimantan. However, prolonged dry conditions have made firefighting increasingly difficult, particularly because of declining water availability.
“For the past month, we have deployed nearly 3,500 people a day, more than 300 water pumps and more than 30 heavy equipment units in the area. However, the prolonged drought has made the fires difficult to contain,” he said.
The government is now changing its approach by mobilizing all available resources for simultaneous firefighting operations. The central and local governments, business associations and communities will take part in the operation.
“We plan to overwhelm these fires. All available resources must be deployed simultaneously so that the fires do not have time to spread,” Hanif said.
The main target covers around 3,000 hectares in Ring 1, the primary wildfire area in Banjarbaru. The site consists of degraded peatland, making the fires particularly difficult to extinguish.
“The main zone in South Kalimantan covers roughly 3,000 hectares in the center of the city. It is degraded peatland that is not easy to extinguish. This is our challenge, and we will resolve it,” Hanif said.
The government is targeting complete suppression of fires in the main area within one to two weeks, as water reserves continue to decline and widespread rainfall is not expected until after November.
“We hope to completely extinguish the fires in Ring 1, or the main area of South Kalimantan, within the next one to two weeks. There is no other way. If this takes longer, we will face water shortages later,” he said.
The firefighting operation will also be accompanied by patrols to prevent fires from recurring until the rainy season arrives. Each participating company will be assigned an area and provided with operational requirements, including pumps, hoses, personnel and fire-retardant formulations for peatland areas.
Hanif said the prolonged drought also highlighted the need to change the approach to wildfire management. Weather modification operations cannot be relied upon as the sole solution when atmospheric moisture is limited.
“So far, we have relied on weather modification operations as one of, or even the only, permanent solutions to forest and land fires. Nature has corrected that approach today. When there is no atmospheric moisture, the permanent solution is to prepare fire-resilient landscapes,” he said.
Meanwhile, South Kalimantan Governor Muhidin said the provincial government would provide incentives to residents who provide credible evidence identifying people responsible for land burning.
“If people find someone burning land and have complete evidence, and they bring or apprehend the person and report them to the police chief, I will provide a bonus,” Muhidin said. ***
