Indonesia’s disaster agency chief Suharyanto apologized on Friday after remarking that daily life in wildfire-stricken Kalimantan was running normally, clarifying that his comments were not meant to minimize the heavy haze crisis affecting residents. National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) leadership faced public concern following a hybrid limited meeting at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta where the initial assessment was delivered to President Prabowo Subianto.
BNPB Head Clarifies Normalcy Remarks Amid Kalimantan Haze
Suharyanto, who leads the National Disaster Management Agency, stated via his official Instagram account that he understood how his choice of words could suggest communities had escaped harm. According to reports from Tempo.co, the agency head explained that his use of the word “normal” referred strictly to isolated indicators such as road traffic, local shops, and basic public services remaining open. He emphasized that the description did not imply that broader environmental conditions had recovered or that the struggles of local populations were dismissed.
“If the choice of words I used in the report was seen as giving the impression that the government considered the situation of communities amid the haze disaster to be business as usual, that was not what I meant,” Suharyanto said in his statement.
Wildfire Statistics and Operational Hurdles in Kalimantan
During the initial presidential briefing on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, Suharyanto reported that 209.78 hectares of forest and land remained actively burning across Sumatra and Kalimantan. Dense smoke from these blazes has severely restricted commercial flights and hampered aerial firefighting operations in Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan. The agency acknowledged that persistent haze has degraded regional air quality, disrupted public health, and affected education across some areas.
According to data from the Ministry of Forestry’s SiPongi system cited by Tempo.co, national hotspots with high confidence levels reached 932 on Tuesday, September 22, 2026. This marked an increase of 244 points from the 688 hotspots recorded the previous day. Central Kalimantan emerged as the most affected zone with 643 detected hotspots, followed by Kalimantan Selatan with 68, Kalimantan Barat with 50, and Sumatera Selatan with 17.
Government Firefighting Efforts and Timeline
Weather modification operations intended to clear the thick smoke have faced significant constraints, leaving authorities reliant on ground intervention teams. BNPB continues coordinating with military personnel, police, Manggala Agni firefighters, and local volunteers to contain the flames and protect vulnerable populations. Officials estimate that ongoing suppression efforts will extinguish the current wave of forest and land fires no earlier than mid-October 2026, and no later than the third week of November 2026.
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