JAKARTA, Oct 10 - Hazardous air quality continues to affect parts of Indonesia's Kalimantan and Sumatra regions amid forest and land fires, with 437 high-confidence hotspots detected nationwide on Friday.
Indonesia's Forestry Ministry (Kemenhut), citing monitoring data by the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said parts of Central Kalimantan, South Sumatra, and Jambi continued to record air quality ranging from very unhealthy to hazardous.
“Joint teams continue to tackle forest and land fires through ground firefighting, water bombing, aerial patrols, as well as prevention and control efforts in priority areas,” the ministry said in a social media update.
According to BMKG's air quality classification, very unhealthy conditions correspond to PM2.5 concentrations of 150.5 to 250.4 micrograms per cubic metre, while hazardous levels exceed 250.4 micrograms per cubic metre.
PM2.5 refers to fine airborne particles measuring 2.5 micrometres or smaller.
The ministry said 61 aircraft, including 44 water-bombing aircraft and 17 assigned to patrols and weather modification, remained deployed for firefighting, aerial patrols, and weather modification operations.
Fifty-five aircraft are operating in six priority provinces, while the rest are elsewhere.
According to the ministry's monitoring system, Central Kalimantan recorded 122 hotspots as of 9 pm local time on Friday, up from 86 on Thursday, while South Sumatra registered 107, down from 130.
Jambi recorded an increase from three to 15 hotspots. West Kalimantan hotspots rose from 12 to 13, while South Kalimantan declined from 37 to 13 and Riau recorded none on either day.
