KLHK Detects 391 Hotspots in Indonesia, Most in Riau (Wednesday, March 18, 2026)

Based on the SiPongi forest and land fire monitoring system of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), monitoring over the last 24 hours shows that 391 hotspots have been detected in Indonesia. This number of hotspots is an increase of 50 points compared to the previous period.

The data is the result of Terra/Aqua, SNPP, and NOAA satellite imagery accessed on Wednesday (March 18, 2026) at 11:47 WIB. Of the 391 detected hotspots, 15 have a high hotspot confidence level, 349 are medium scale, and 27 are low scale.

Hotspot confidence levels are divided into 3 scales. Low scale ranges from 0 - 29, medium scale from 30 - 79, and high scale from 80 - 100. The higher the hotspot confidence level, the higher the possibility of forest and land fires occurring in a particular area.

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The most hotspots detected are in Riau, with 133 points. Riau Islands ranks second with 39 hotspots. East Kalimantan is third with 23 hotspots.

21 hotspots were detected in South Kalimantan, followed by Bangka Belitung Islands with 20 hotspots, and West Kalimantan and Banten with 18 and 17 detected hotspots respectively.

Hotspots are coordinate points in an area that have a higher surface temperature than their surroundings, and do not represent the number of forest and land fire incidents.

However, a large number of clustered hotspots in an area indicates the occurrence of forest and land fires. This means that remote sensing satellite-detected hotspot data remains the most effective for monitoring forest and land fires over large areas.

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