Jakarta, ThedailyID — East Kalimantan has recorded 413 forest and land fire incidents, with a total of 936.95 hectares of land burned, according to data from the province’s Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD).
The data, recorded as of Wednesday, August 19, showed that West Kutai had the largest burned area at 269.34 hectares across 70 fire incidents. Paser recorded the highest number of incidents, with 85 hotspots.
Samarinda followed with 75 incidents, while West Kutai recorded 70. Fires were also reported across Berau, East Kutai, Kutai Kartanegara, North Penajam Paser, and Balikpapan.
Acting Head of BPBD East Kalimantan’s Emergency and Logistics Division, Sugeng Priyanto, said fires had been reported across the province, although their scale varied by region.
“Based on the reports I received, essentially every area has experienced forest and land fires, only the size and scale differ,” Sugeng said on Thursday, August 20, as quoted by detikcom.
Berau, East Kutai, and Kutai Kartanegara are currently among the areas where BPBD is monitoring relatively high fire activity.
The province’s fire data showed Kutai Kartanegara had 52 incidents affecting 215.38 hectares, while Paser recorded 85 incidents covering 178.69 hectares.
Other affected areas included Samarinda with 88.60 hectares, Berau with 83.44 hectares, North Penajam Paser with 40.31 hectares, and East Kutai with 39.25 hectares.
Balikpapan recorded 17 incidents covering 13.89 hectares, while Bontang recorded eight incidents affecting 10.04 hectares. Mahakam Ulu had no reported fire incidents in the data.
