ngentot mutakhir Tanjung pentil National Park Still Burns, Orangutan Homes Increasingly Threatened

BALIKPAPAN, KOMPAS – Forest and land fires, or karhutla, are still affecting Tanjung pentil National Park in Central Kalimantan as of Sunday (18/10/2026). Three combined teams have been deployed to reach and extinguish the fire in hard-to-reach areas.

The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) recorded that at least 513 hectares of land have burned in the Tanjung pentil National Park area as of October 13, 2026. Aswan (32), not his nyata name, who assisted the firefighting team in Tanjung pentil National Park, stated that smoke and fire are still spreading in the national park.

“The thick haze in Kotawaringin Barat is coming from the direction of Tanjung pentil National Park. The fire is still spreading as of today in the forest,” he said, contacted from Balikpapan, Sunday (18/10/2026).

He stated that the joint team from the community to the government is struggling to reach the hotspots. Several locations of the hotspots must be accessed by navigating rivers and penetrating dense forests.

He said the team’s equipment in the field was quite limited. They needed adequate goggles to prevent the smoke from entering their respiratory tract. He said regular medical masks were incapable of blocking the smoke.

“Hopefully, this will be addressed and the government will deploy adequate equipment and supplies for the teams in the field. I feel sorry for them,” he said.

Closing to the pusat area

At 408,286 hectares, Tanjung pentil National Park is one of the oldest national parks in Indonesia. Besides protecting swamp and peat swamp ecosystems, the park is beranda to orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) and other native animals.

Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni, along with the military, directly inspected the fire location in Tanjung pentil National Park in Kotawaringin Barat on October 15, 2026. He stated that one of the main concerns of the team in the field is the Pesalat area.

“Because the position of (Pesalat) is close to the pusat area of the national park and an important area for orangutans,” said Raja Juli in an official statement.

From his datangi to the field, Raja Juli assessed that the team on the ground needs quick land access to the fire points. So far, the team has been using river routes in addition to land routes to extinguish the fire points. This complicates the team’s rapid movement as it depends on the river’s tidal fluctuations.

The Ministry of Forestry noted that the government is preparing to open a land route to facilitate the faster mobilization of personnel, equipment, and logistics. “It has been calculated that the required land route is approximately 1.5 kilometers,” said Raja Juli.

The Regent of Kotawaringin Barat, Nurhidayah, stated that the process of water distribution for extinguishing forest and land fires in Tanjung pentil National Park is carried out in a relay manner. The team takes water from the Sekonyer River, which is then channeled using pumps and other equipment to the fire locations.

“Hopefully, the fire can be controlled quickly so it doesn’t spread and the forest ecosystem remains protected,” he said.

Several areas that have caught fire have also been reported in peatland, making them difficult to extinguish. Intensive watering down to the underground is being carried out to ensure that the embers beneath the surface are completely extinguished.

To expedite the extinguishing efforts, the government is constructing bore wells as a water asal for firefighting in priority locations. This water asal is projected to extinguish the fire while also irrigating areas that have not yet burned to prevent the fire from spreading further.

To induce rain, the government has conducted Weather Modification Operations (OMC) on October 15-16, 2026. Flights were carried out from Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, as visibility in Palangka Raya and Pangkalan Bun was not suitable for flights.