Indonesia detects 5,019 wildfire hotspots amid El Niño threat

hartono · Jul 31, 2026

Indonesia detects 5,019 wildfire hotspots amid El Niño threat

Firefighters from Manggala Agni Sumatra Daops XIV-Banyuasin battle a land fire in Ibul Besar I Village, Pemulutan District, Ogan Ilir Regency (OI), South Sumatra, on Thursday (July 30, 2026). The blaze, which scorched seven hectares of land, was extinguished by Manggala Agni, the South Sumatra Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), the Ogan Ilir Regency BPBD, and a Sikorsky Black Hawk N360 UH water-bombing helicopter. ANTARA FOTO/Nova Wahyudi/nym. (ANTARA FOTO/NOVA WAHYUDI)

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia’s weather agency has detected 5,019 wildfire hotspots as of mid-July 2026, with the number rising faster than during previous El Niño events in 2015, 2019, and 2023.

Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan, Deputy Head for Climatology at the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said during a press briefing in Jakarta on Thursday that hotspot numbers have increased at an accelerated rate since the beginning of the year.

"Accumulation charts show that the number of hotspots from January to mid-July 2026 has increased faster than during previous El Niño years, including 2015, 2019, and 2023," Ardhasena said.

West Kalimantan, South Papua, and Riau currently have the highest concentrations of hotspots. Smoke haze from land fires has already begun affecting parts of West Kalimantan in recent days.

BMKG projects that fire risks will peak between August and September as drought conditions intensify.

High-risk priority areas include Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Papua.

Fire risks are also expected to gradually increase in parts of Sulawesi from September to October.

"The critical period begins now in July and will continue until late September 2026. Intensified monitoring and field surveillance in these areas are crucial to prevent hotspots from escalating and causing wider environmental damage," Ardhasena said.

The elevated fire risk is being driven by an ongoing El Niño pattern, which BMKG forecasts could peak between December 2026 and January 2027, with a strong possibility of surpassing previous intensity levels.

Climate data from late July shows that 509 seasonal zones—covering 54.5 percent of Indonesia’s territory—have entered the dry season.

Drought conditions now dominate areas south of the equator, including Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, and parts of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua, with several regions experiencing more than 60 consecutive days without rainfall.