Jakarta (ANTARA) - Some 5,929 personnel, comprising military, police, and civilian officers, were deployed to extinguish forest fires in the five provinces of Riau, South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan.

The personnel were part of the Land Task Force for forest fire emergency and supported by the Air Task Force as well as firefighters from private companies, such APP Sinar Mas, which has deployed 3,180 men.

The Air Task Force has deployed helicopters to help extinguish forest, peatland, and bush fires. A total of 17 helicopters from the Military, private companies, Environmental Affairs Ministry, and the Natural Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) have been readied in Riau, three in South Sumatra, six in West Kalimantan, and seven in Central Kalimantan.

Some 61.06 million liters of water was used to put out the wildfires. The authorities have also applied weather modification technology to induce artificial rain in regions where hotspots were detected.

A total of 27,683.47 hectares of forest, peatland, and bush areas in Riau Province were gutted by fires as of July 29, 2019, as compared to 2,273.97 hectares in West Kalimantan, 236.49 hectares in South Sumatra, 52.53 hectares in South Kalimantan, 27 hectares in Central Kalimantan, and 4.18 hectares in Jambi.

On July 29, at least 27 hotspots were detected in Riau, 26 in Jambi, 14 in Central Kalimantan, 12 in West Kalimantan, and five in South Sumatra.

Translator: Indriani, Fardah
Editor: Bambang Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2019