Australia Joins Indonesia’s Wildfire Fight With Waterbombers
Australia will send a C-130 Hercules and a Cessna Citation to support Indonesia’s waterbombing operations from Nov. 6 to 12. The deployment follows a fatal helicopter crash during firefighting in Central Kalimantan and comes as fires and haze have contributed to more than 400,000 acute respiratory infection cases across seven provinces.
Australia will join Indonesia’s wildfire waterbombing operations from Nov. 6 to 12, deploying two aircraft as fires and haze have contributed to more than 400,000 acute respiratory infection cases across seven provinces. The assistance follows a helicopter crash during a firefighting mission on Borneo that killed one crew member and injured five others.
Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency, BNPB, said Australia’s New South Wales Rural Fire Service had dispatched a C-130 Hercules and a Cessna Citation. The aircraft are expected to support firefighting operations during the stated period.
The fires have burned across Indonesia for months, with large areas affected mainly on Sumatra, Borneo and Papua. The scale of the damage and the reported health burden make the Australian aircraft an added resource for operations already using waterbombing and cloud seeding.
The stakes are immediate.
Health Ministry data showed more than 400,000 cases of acute respiratory infections in seven provinces linked to fire and haze. The figure connects the firefighting effort to public health, as smoke pollution has accompanied the fires across affected areas.
Indonesia is experiencing its most intense wildfires in 11 years, according to the account from BNPB. The agency’s head, Kristomei Sianturi, said Indonesia had continued making “massive efforts” to control the fires, including waterbombing, cloud seeding and engagement with foreign assistance.
Australian Ambassador Roderick Bruce Brazier said the support would include a Large Air Tanker able to drop up to 15,000 liters of water per sortie, with an estimated capacity of up to six sorties per day. The aircraft’s stated capacity gives a measure of the scale of the aerial support, though the operation’s impact will depend on deployment during the Nov. 6 to 12 period.
The Australian deployment comes days after a waterbombing helicopter crashed in Central Kalimantan on Borneo. The military said the accident killed one crew member and injured five others. Two remaining officers had yet to be evacuated, according to the military statement.
The crash highlights the risks facing crews working over fire zones, while the planned foreign support adds aircraft to Indonesia’s effort. The Large Air Tanker can carry up to 15,000 liters of water per sortie.
