Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has informed that as of the first week of August this year, no smoke from forest and land fires in Indonesia has spread to neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.

This has been confirmed using satellite imagery tracking wind direction and speed across atmospheric layers, deputy for meteorology at the BMKG, Guswanto, said on Tuesday.

The satellite data was also combined with information on hotspots and fire spots detected in vulnerable areas, specifically in the six priority provinces of Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan.

“Hotspot has not had a flame while fire spots already have flames. We combine this data to predict whether the smoke would move across borders, and we found none,” he said.

The latest BMKG monitoring shows several hotspots in western Indonesia, with the smoke tending to be thin and not crossing regional borders.

The agency is tracking hotspots daily to ensure conditions remain under control, he added.

Guswanto emphasized that while the risk of fires remains high in some areas during the dry season, fires do not occur without triggers such as land burning or careless human actions like discarding cigarette butts or lighting campfires.

Therefore, preventive patrols are still necessary in the field.

The agency reminded that land clearing by burning can increase the risk of transboundary haze.

In addition, collaboration across ministries/agencies, regional governments, and communities is crucial to prevent wider fallout from fires.

“We continue to coordinate with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Forestry, and relevant authorities in ASEAN to ensure this information is integrated and can be responded to quickly,” he said.

The BNPB has also announced that forest and land fires, particularly in the six priority provinces, have been successfully brought under control as of early August amid the dry season peak.

“The success was achieved through integrated efforts combining weather modification technology, the deployment of aircraft for patrols and aerial water spraying, and the work of ground task forces,” BNPB head Suharyanto said on Tuesday.

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