KUBU RAYA, thekabarnews.com—President Prabowo Subianto ordered authorities to strengthen firefighting operations in Kubu Raya, West Kalimantan. He gave this order after inspecting a forest and land fire (Karhutla) site in Limbung village on Saturday, August 22.

Prabowo visited the affected area in Sungai Raya district. He went there after chairing a coordination meeting at the forest and land fire command post at Supadio Air Force Base.

The meeting brought together central and regional officials responsible for controlling the fires and protecting affected communities.

“I came here to observe the actual conditions. Now, I would like someone here to give me a presentation on the situation,” Prabowo said.

During his field inspection, Prabowo instructed Indonesian Military Commander (TNI) Gen. Agus Subiyanto and National Police Chief (Polri) Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo to deploy additional water pumps. The president also asked them to drill more wells in peatland areas.

The equipment will help firefighting teams secure water and keep burned peat wet to prevent flames from re-emerging.

Authorities will also equip incoming personnel with portable firefighting tools. This way, they can immediately extinguish small fires discovered during ground patrols.

Prabowo walked through an area still covered by smoke and inspected several locations where teams had suppressed the flames.

The president also spoke with residents and personnel involved in the joint firefighting operation. Several officers continued extinguishing residual fires during the presidential visit.

At the earlier briefing, National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) representative Asrianus Bulo reported that satellites had detected 198 high-confidence hotspots in West Kalimantan during the preceding 24 hours.

Monitoring also identified approximately 3,100 medium-confidence and 406 low-confidence hotspots.

Hotspots represent satellite-detected thermal anomalies and do not necessarily correspond one-to-one with confirmed fires.

Officials said the largest concentrations appeared in Ketapang, Kubu Raya and North Kayong. There were also other significant clusters in Sanggau, Sintang and Sambas.

The broader situation remains serious. BNPB recorded around 28,680 hectares of burned land in West Kalimantan as of August 9. This is the largest area among six provinces prioritized for emergency wildfire operations.

BMKG reported that forceful El Niño conditions and below-normal rainfall had intensified dry conditions across much of Indonesia.

Weather-modification operations in West Kalimantan ran from August 11 to 18 but stopped because suitable clouds were unavailable.

Officials planned to resume the operation between August 23 and 27, subject to weather conditions.

After completing the Kubu Raya inspection, Prabowo departed for Palangka Raya to review firefighting operations in Central Kalimantan.