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BMKG Chief Teuku Faisal Fathani Reveals Shallow Well Drilling Technique to Combat Forest and Land Fires in Peatlands

by Raul Delapena Setiawan September 24, 2026

written by Raul Delapena Setiawan

The Indonesian government is intensifying its strategic approach to mitigate forest and land fires, locally known as kebakaran hutan dan lahan (karhutla), with a primary focus on vulnerable peatland ecosystems. Following a high-level limited cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Head of the Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG), Teuku Faisal Fathani, unveiled an innovative tactical method involving shallow well drilling and portable pumping systems designed to suppress subterranean and surface blazes efficiently. This proactive measure forms part of a broader, multi-layered national strategy endorsed by President Prabowo Subianto to safeguard Indonesia’s ecological landscape, protect public health from toxic haze, and fulfill international climate commitments.

The announcement comes at a critical juncture as national agencies recalibrate disaster management protocols to address both recurring seasonal droughts and the persistent ecological threat posed by degraded carbon-rich peatlands. By combining grassroots community engagement with tactical hydrological engineering, the administration aims to curb the devastating socioeconomic and environmental impacts that have historically plagued parts of Sumatra, Kalimantan, and other high-risk regions across the archipelago.

Tactical Innovation: Shallow Drilling and Portable Pumping Systems

Detailing the newly prioritized field techniques, BMKG Chief Teuku Faisal Fathani explained that the shallow drilling method is specifically tailored for peatland topography, where conventional firefighting vehicles often struggle to access remote hotspots due to soft terrain and a lack of open water sources. The technique involves drilling shallow boreholes directly into the saturated layers beneath or adjacent to vulnerable zones. High-pressure portable pumps are then deployed to extract groundwater, creating a localized hydration network capable of projecting water across a radius of approximately 200 meters from each drilling point.

"If we look at our current reinforcement strategy, we are strengthening the ground task force units so they can directly and rapidly handle forest and land fires precisely where they occur," Faisal stated following the limited cabinet meeting. "There are numerous techniques discussed, and one of them is shallow well drilling combined with portable pumps to extinguish fires within roughly a 200-meter radius of the borehole."

This decentralized hydrological intervention allows rapid-response teams to establish localized water supply hubs almost anywhere within a threatened perimeter. Because peatland fires often burn underground through dried organic matter—making them notoriously difficult to detect and extinguish using standard surface-level water drops alone—saturating the surrounding soil table via localized pumping helps disrupt the subterranean fuel supply. Furthermore, the portability of the pumping units ensures high mobility for field personnel operating in dense or rugged terrain.

Chronology and Policy Framework: The Path to Enhanced Prevention

The formal discussion regarding advanced peatland fire suppression marks a significant escalation in Indonesia’s year-round disaster preparedness timeline. Over the past decade, national policy has evolved from reactive emergency response toward comprehensive, integrated prevention frameworks.

The sequence of policy developments leading up to the current administration’s directive underscores a systemic overhaul:

Pre-2015 Crisis Watershed: Historically, severe El Niño episodes—most notably in 1997 and 2015—triggered massive karhutla outbreaks that released gigatons of carbon dioxide, blanketed Southeast Asia in hazardous haze, and inflicted severe economic losses. These crises prompted the establishment of specialized agencies dedicated to peatland restoration.
Institutional Evolution: Recognizing that ad-hoc measures were insufficient, successive administrations institutionalized prevention by establishing specialized forestry monitoring protocols, weather modification technologies (cloud seeding), and community-based monitoring networks.
Recent Presidential Directives (2026): In the current policy cycle, President Prabowo Subianto’s administration has prioritized structural institutional reforms. Notably, this includes the establishment of the National Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency (Badan Pengelola Gambut dan Mangrove Nasional), which operates directly under the auspices of the President to streamline cross-sectoral mitigation efforts.
The Jakarta Limited Cabinet Meeting: The unveiling of the shallow drilling technique took place during a high-level coordination meeting at the Presidential Palace, bringing together meteorology officials, environmental ministers, disaster mitigation chiefs, and security apparatus representatives to synchronize field execution ahead of the dry season.

Ground-Level Integration and Community Engagement

While technological innovations such as shallow drilling and satellite-based meteorological tracking form the backbone of the scientific approach, the government recognizes that local human resources are indispensable for early detection and immediate initial suppression. Alongside the deployment of heavily equipped ground task forces, official strategies heavily emphasize the mobilization of rural populations through structured initiatives like the Masyarakat Peduli Api (Fire-Aware Community Groups).

These grassroots units are recruited from villages situated in high-risk zones. Equipped with basic firefighting gear, communication devices, and specialized training in peatland management, community members act as the first line of defense. By empowering local populations to monitor moisture levels, report smoke anomalies instantly, and execute initial containment maneuvers before professional task forces arrive, the government aims to drastically reduce response times.

"In addition to technical methods, the government has addressed the vital involvement of rural communities through Fire-Aware Community Groups," Faisal noted. "These groups are expected to assist significantly in extinguishing small-scale ignitions and preventing the spread of fires near residential zones and agricultural plots."

This dual-track approach—bridging high-tech meteorological modeling and subterranean engineering with decentralized community vigilance—seeks to address the root causes of karhutla rather than merely managing its symptoms.

Broader Context, Supporting Data, and Environmental Implications

To fully comprehend the gravity of Indonesia’s focus on peatland management, it is essential to examine the unique vulnerabilities of tropical peat ecosystems. Peatlands are essentially massive carbon sinks composed of accumulated partially decayed organic matter spanning thousands of years. When undisturbed and properly saturated, they play a crucial global role in carbon sequestration and regional hydrological regulation.

However, when drainage canals dry out peatlands for agricultural or plantation expansion, the soil transforms into an extremely combustible material. Once ignited, peat fires can smolder for weeks or months beneath the surface, resisting heavy rainfall and surface dousing.

Carbon Emissions Impact: According to environmental science data, the combustion of one hectare of tropical peatland can release carbon emissions equivalent to the annual output of dozens of passenger vehicles, compounding global climate change pressures.
Public Health and Economic Costs: Beyond environmental degradation, regional haze historically disrupts commercial aviation, closes schools, and causes spikes in acute respiratory infections (ARIs) among millions of citizens across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Meteorological Precision: BMKG’s integration into the early-warning architecture allows authorities to deploy resources proactively. By monitoring atmospheric drying trends, soil moisture indexes, and wind velocity vectors weeks in advance, agencies can pre-position shallow drilling kits and portable pumps in designated high-risk quadrants before ignition conditions reach critical thresholds.

Expert Analysis and Future Outlook

Environmental policy analysts have cautiously welcomed the government’s emphasis on localized, hydrological solutions like shallow well drilling, viewing it as a pragmatic pivot away from over-reliance on costly and weather-dependent aerial water-bombing operations. Aerial suppression, while effective for massive canopy fires, often fails to penetrate underground peat combustion and carries exorbitant operational costs.

Nevertheless, experts emphasize that long-term success will depend heavily on consistent enforcement, rigorous maintenance of the newly established operational infrastructure, and genuine cooperation from corporate concession holders operating on or adjacent to peat domes. Maintaining high water tables through canal blocking and strict prohibition of land-clearing via burning remain indispensable prerequisites that must accompany tactical innovations like well drilling.

As Indonesia navigates shifting climatic patterns influenced by global temperature anomalies, the integration of science-based meteorological forecasting, targeted subsurface engineering, and community-led vigilance establishes a comprehensive blueprint for environmental stewardship. If executed with sustained commitment and inter-agency coordination, these strategic adjustments hold the potential to significantly diminish the frequency, scale, and destructive capacity of forest and land fires in the years ahead.

September 24, 2026 0 comment

Technology and Gadgets

BMKG Head Teuku Faisal Fathani Reveals Shallow Well Drilling Technique to Combat Forest and Land Fires in Peatlands

by Nana Wu September 24, 2026

written by Nana Wu

The Head of the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG), Teuku Faisal Fathani, has unveiled an innovative tactical approach involving shallow well drilling to address and mitigate recurrent forest and land fires, commonly known in Indonesia as karhutla. Speaking after a high-level limited cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Thursday, September 24, 2026, Faisal detailed the strategy discussed directly with President Prabowo Subianto. The primary focus of this methodology centers on vulnerable peatland ecosystems, which have historically presented severe challenges during firefighting operations due to subterranean combustion that defies traditional surface extinguishing methods.

The introduction of this technique marks a strategic evolution in Indonesia’s ongoing battle against seasonal fires that frequently blanket parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan in hazardous haze, impacting regional public health, education, and economic stability. By shifting toward proactive ground-level interventions backed by tactical hydrological management, the government aims to suppress fires swiftly before they escalate into massive environmental catastrophes.

Mechanics of the Shallow Drilling Technique

The shallow well drilling technique operates on the principle of localized water extraction to feed portable high-pressure pumps. According to Faisal, this method empowers ground task forces to establish immediate water sources directly adjacent to or within fire-prone sectors, bypassing the logistical nightmare of transporting water via tankers over charred or inaccessible terrain.

Once a shallow well is drilled into the water table—which is typically high in peatland regions—portable pumps are deployed to extract the subterranean water. This setup creates a localized fire suppression radius spanning approximately 200 meters from each drilling point.

"If we look at how we are strengthening our capabilities, it is the ground task force that we are reinforcing to directly tackle forest and land fires in affected areas," Faisal stated. "There are several methods and numerous techniques that were discussed, one of which is shallow drilling, followed by pumping using portable equipment to extinguish fires within roughly a 200-meter radius from the drilling point."

This approach addresses one of the primary logistical bottlenecks in peatland firefighting: the scarcity of accessible surface water during prolonged dry spells. Peatlands are inherently carbon-rich wetlands that, when drained or dried out, become highly combustible down to several meters below the surface. Traditional surface water spraying often fails because it only cools the top layer while underground peat continues to smolder. By utilizing shallow wells, firefighters can continuously saturate the peat layers from within the affected zone, effectively drowning the fire from the roots up.

Broader Institutional Framework and Community Integration

The discussion surrounding shallow well drilling did not occur in a vacuum. It forms part of a comprehensive national strategy spearheaded by President Prabowo Subianto to restructure and optimize Indonesia’s disaster prevention and environmental management architecture. During the same cabinet sessions, the administration announced the establishment of the National Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency (Badan Pengelola Gambut dan Mangrove Nasional), which operates directly under the authority of the President. This institutional elevation underscores the gravity with which the current administration views ecological preservation and climate resilience.

Complementing the technological deployment of shallow wells and the overarching mandate of the new agency is a strong emphasis on community-level preparedness. The government has prioritized the mobilization of rural populations through specialized entities known as Fire Care Community Groups (Kelompok Masyarakat Peduli Api). These grassroots organizations are trained to act as first responders, capable of implementing early suppression measures and enforcing fire prevention protocols around local settlements before professional task forces arrive.

By combining top-down policy directives, advanced meteorological early warning systems provided by BMKG, localized hydrological engineering like shallow wells, and bottom-up community vigilance, Indonesia is attempting a multi-layered defense mechanism against the perennial threat of karhutla.

Background Context and Historical Chronology of Karhutla in Indonesia

Forest and land fires have posed a persistent environmental, economic, and diplomatic challenge for Indonesia for decades. The crisis typically peaks during the dry season, which is often exacerbated by climate phenomena such as El Niño, leading to prolonged drought conditions across the archipelago.

Historically, the chronology of major karhutla events reveals severe ecological and economic setbacks:

1997–1998: One of the worst fire crises in Indonesian history, fueled by a severe El Niño event, resulting in millions of hectares of burned land, massive carbon emissions, and a thick haze that disrupted regional aviation and public health across Southeast Asia.
2015: Another catastrophic fire season scorched approximately 2.6 million hectares of land, predominantly in Sumatra and Kalimantan, causing an estimated USD 16 billion in economic losses and triggering widespread respiratory illnesses.
2019: Despite improved policy frameworks and stricter law enforcement, another significant surge in fires burned nearly 1.6 million hectares, prompting a renewed push by the government to revamp peatland restoration initiatives.
2020–2024: Enhanced monitoring, rapid response protocols, and favorable La Niña conditions in certain years helped suppress widespread fires, though localized hotspots continued to threaten biodiversity and air quality.
2025–2026: The current administration under President Prabowo Subianto transitioned toward structural reforms, culminating in the creation of specialized management agencies and the adoption of localized tactical innovations like the shallow well method introduced by BMKG in late September 2026.

The vulnerability of Indonesian peatlands is rooted in historical land conversion practices. Peatlands naturally store vast quantities of carbon. When these areas are drained for agricultural expansion, particularly for palm oil and pulpwood plantations, the dry organic matter becomes highly susceptible to ignition. Once ignited, peat fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish, often burning underground for weeks or months, defying rainstorms and emitting immense quantities of greenhouse gases.

Expert Analysis and Strategic Implications

Environmental analysts and disaster management experts have cautiously welcomed the introduction of the shallow well technique, viewing it as a pragmatic tactical adjustment. For years, critics argued that Indonesia’s firefighting strategy relied too heavily on expensive and reactive aerial water bombing, which treats symptoms rather than the root cause and is heavily constrained by thick smoke and weather conditions.

By empowering ground task forces with decentralized, low-cost hydrological tools like portable pumps and shallow wells, the government is shifting toward a more sustainable and economically viable intervention model. Ground operations, when properly equipped and strategically positioned, offer higher precision in extinguishing subterranean peat fires compared to indiscriminate aerial drops.

Furthermore, the integration of local communities through the Fire Care Community Groups addresses the human element of fire prevention. Empirical data from previous wildfire seasons consistently shows that the vast majority of fires are ignited by human activity—either through land-clearing practices for smallholder agriculture or accidental negligence. Empowering villagers to monitor, report, and initiate early containment creates an immediate deterrent network that state agencies alone cannot achieve over Indonesia’s vast archipelagic landscape.

However, experts emphasize that while shallow wells and community policing are vital tactical tools, long-term success will ultimately depend on rigorous enforcement of moratoriums on peatland drainage, mandatory restoration of degraded hydrological functions, and addressing the socio-economic drivers of slash-and-burn practices.

As Indonesia navigates intensifying climate volatility, the combination of advanced meteorological forecasting from BMKG, institutional oversight under the newly formed National Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency, and ground-level innovations like shallow well drilling establishes a comprehensive framework designed to safeguard the nation’s ecological integrity and public well-being for the foreseeable future.

September 24, 2026 0 comment