Rome, 18 June 2025 – Forest and land fires are no longer just local or regional issues—they have evolved into global threats that undermine biodiversity, accelerate climate change, and disrupt food security across continents. Against this backdrop, the first-ever Plenary of the Global Fire Management Hub, held from 10 to 12 June 2025 at FAO Headquarters in Rome, stood as a critical moment for international collaboration in Integrated Fire Management (IFM).
Mukomuko, Bengkulu – June 3, 2025
The peatland wildfire in Mukomuko Regency, Bengkulu Province, has now entered its ninth day. Although the fire has not yet been fully extinguished, efforts to control and suppress it continue. The blaze, which has scorched 25 hectares of peatland, has been successfully contained and has not spread beyond its current perimeter.
Meulaboh, June 4, 2025 — A wildfire broke out in the village of Gunong Kleng, Meureubo District, West Aceh Regency on Monday evening, burning approximately one hectare of land and coming dangerously close to residential areas.
Alberta, Canada – Extreme heat, dry conditions, and high winds have fueled out-of-control wildfires across multiple provinces in Canada, triggering mass evacuations and worsening air quality throughout the region. Satellite imagery from Sentinel-2 on May 30 captured a massive plume of smoke and a towering pyrocumulonimbus cloud roughly 40 km west of #ChipewyanLake, marking the intensity of the ongoing Alberta wildfire.
Since Friday morning, more than 50 wildfires have erupted across Alberta alone, with nearly 30 burning out of control. The current wildfire season, which typically spans from May to September, has already forced over 25,000 residents to flee their homes.
The hardest-hit province so far is Manitoba, which declared a state of emergency last week. Approximately 17,000 people were evacuated from the province on Saturday, May 31, alongside 1,300 evacuees from Alberta and another 8,000 from Saskatchewan. Thick smoke from the wildfires has severely impacted air quality and visibility across Canada and into several U.S. states along the border.
“Air quality and visibility due to wildfire smoke can fluctuate quickly and vary significantly from hour to hour,” the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency stated on Sunday, June 1, as reported by the Associated Press. “As smoke levels rise, so does the health risk.”
The fires have pushed resources to their limits. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe confirmed that emergency responders, firefighters, and aircraft from other Canadian provinces and U.S. states including Alaska, Oregon, and Arizona have been deployed to assist.
“We are truly grateful, and we are stronger because of your support,” Moe said in a public post. He also warned that hot and dry conditions are allowing fires to continue spreading rapidly. “The next 4 to 7 days are critical until we find a shift in weather patterns and hopefully see heavy rain across the north.”
In northern Manitoba, more than 5,000 evacuees came from the town of Flin Flon, located around 645 km northwest of Winnipeg. A fire that started a week earlier near Creighton, Saskatchewan, quickly spread into Manitoba, threatening Flin Flon. Emergency crews have struggled to contain the blaze, and thick smoke has grounded water bomber aircraft. About 600 residents were evacuated from Cranberry Portage, where wildfires also disrupted power lines.
Evacuation centers have been established across Manitoba, with the city of Winnipeg opening public buildings to evacuees after hotels filled with wildfire victims, tourists, business travelers, and convention attendees. Indigenous leaders are calling on the government to prioritize displaced residents in the limited accommodations available.
“This is the largest evacuation due to wildfires we’ve seen since the 1990s,” said Kyra Wilson, Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. “It’s heartbreaking to see children sleeping on floors. People are waiting in hallways, waiting outside. Right now, we need everyone to come together. We are exhausted.”
Back in Alberta, wildfire officials continue to battle erratic and extreme fire behavior. The development of pyrocumulonimbus clouds—massive fire-generated storm systems capable of producing lightning and high winds—has added further complexity to the already dangerous situation. These clouds not only drive fire spread but also pose risks to aviation and ground crews alike.
With Canada still early in its wildfire season, experts fear that 2024 could rival or even surpass the historic devastation seen in 2023, which was the country’s worst fire season on record.
Hashtags like #Alberta, #Wildfire, and #Sentinel2 are trending as the public shares real-time updates, satellite images, and safety alerts. Emergency services urge residents in at-risk areas to remain alert and heed evacuation orders promptly.
Ketapang, West Kalimantan – Fighting fires on peatlands is not something you can learn from a PowerPoint slide. In Ketapang, one of Indonesia’s most fire-prone peatland regions, 19 participants from the Philippines, Malaysia, Timor Leste, and Indonesia got their hands dirty—literally—in an international training on peat fire suppression facilitated by IPB University’s Faculty of Forestry and Environment and the Regional Fire Management Resource Center–Southeast Asia (RFMRC-SEA).
The training was not just theoretical. For one full week at IPB University, participants were guided by three fire experts from France and introduced to advanced fire suppression strategies, including the use of a fire simulator—a tool that mimics real fire behavior to prepare participants for field conditions.
Then came the real test. In Ketapang, the trainees operated out of Manggala Agni’s Regional Fire Operation Base (Daops IX Ketapang), supported by four fire crews (15 personnel), complete equipment, and field facilities.
“We want them to be ready not just on paper. Understanding fire behavior on peatlands requires real field experience,” emphasized Prof. Dr. Bambang Hero Saharjo, M.Agr., a forensic expert on forest and land fires and professor at IPB University.
Peatland fires are notoriously difficult to suppress. Unlike surface fires, they smolder beneath the ground and can reignite even after appearing extinguished. That’s why this kind of hands-on training is so crucial.
Before facing actual fire, participants underwent a dry simulation to familiarize themselves with the equipment. “This is essential so that when they face real fire, there’s no hesitation,” Prof. Bambang added.
The real-world fire suppression took place in a controlled peatland site not far from the road, with accessible water sources. Special plots were prepared with different fuel loads and types to simulate varying fire conditions. Parameters like flame length, fire spread rate, wind direction, and local weather were closely monitored.
“We created predefined plots and measured everything—from fuel thickness and volume to air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed—so participants could observe how fires behave under specific conditions,” Prof. Bambang explained.
The team also used thermal drones to record fire temperatures and movement patterns, providing valuable data for future training and fire management efforts.
“We’re not just putting out fires—we’re building future fire leaders who understand the science behind the flames,” he said.
Prof. Bambang confirmed that similar trainings will be held annually for the next four years in different peatland regions across Indonesia.
Other IPB University experts, Prof. Lailan Syaufina and Dr. Ati Dwi Nurhayati, also played key roles in delivering materials on peat fire ecology and impacts, as well as suppression strategies.
Peatland fires are not just Indonesia’s problem. Their transboundary haze affects the entire Southeast Asian region, with serious consequences for human health, biodiversity, and economies.
Prof. Bambang, who is also a leading figure in international fire science forums, has long advocated for data-driven and science-based fire management. In one of his published articles, he emphasized:
“Peat fires are not merely technical problems but ecological disasters that require integrated solutions based on science and collaboration.”
— Bambang Hero Saharjo, in “Combating Peatland Fires in Indonesia”, Environmental Science Journal, 2020.
Saharjo, B.H. (2020). Combating Peatland Fires in Indonesia: Between Policy, Law Enforcement, and Scientific Evidence. Environmental Science Journal.
Saharjo, B.H., & Usup, A. (2017). The Use of Fire by Farmers in Peatland Areas and Its Impacts. Bogor: IPB Press.
Saharjo, B.H., et al. (2022). Fire Behavior and Suppression Techniques in Tropical Peatlands. Proceedings of the Regional Fire Management Forum.
Daegu, South Korea — A fast-spreading wildfire swept through parts of Daegu on Monday, April 28, 2025, prompting the evacuation of more than 1,200 residents as strong winds and dry conditions intensified the blaze. The fire, which began on Mount Hamjisan in the central part of the city, quickly grew into a major emergency.
According to the Korea Forest Service, the wildfire broke out around 2:00 p.m. local time and burned through 50 hectares of land in under two hours. The rapid spread was fueled by high winds and extremely dry vegetation, causing immediate concern for nearby residential areas.
Bangkok, Thailand — An innovative initiative by student interns from the Upper ASEAN Wildland Fire Special Research Unit (WFSRU) has resulted in the creation of three websites for active fire detection, utilizing the VIIRS sensor from NOAA satellites.
The three websites include:
These websites display active fire information based on data from three satellites: NOAA-21, Suomi-NPP, and NOAA-20. The data is available in the system approximately 35–40 minutes after the satellites pass over the monitoring area, making it one of the fastest sources for wildfire information since the data is directly fed from NOAA, not NASA, resulting in quicker updates.
“This initiative is designed to help wildfire control personnel receive hotspot information from satellites as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Veerachai Tanpipat, project supervisor and lead researcher at WFSRU, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University.
The project was developed through a collaboration between WFSRU and three graduate students from Polytech Nantes and Nantes University, France:
The websites feature an interactive mapping interface, making it easier for governments, communities, and relevant organizations to monitor and respond to forest and land fires in real-time across the countries involved.
📩 For more information or inquiries, please contact:
Author: Robi Deslia Waldi (RDW)
Photo: Bambang Hero Saharjo
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
By Prof. Bambang Hero Saharjo, Professor of Forestry and Environment, IPB University
Indonesia’s Rainforests on the Brink
Indonesia’s tropical rainforests cover 10% of the world’s forest area and are home to 12% of the world’s mammals, 16% of reptiles, and 17% of all bird species. Yet in the past two decades, more than 24 million hectares of forest—an area equivalent to the combined size of the UK and the Netherlands—have vanished (World Bank, 2022).
Source: Facebook Ministry of Environment and Forestry Indonesia
Riau, April 22, 2025, The scorching weather sweeping through Riau Province throughout April 2025 has begun to show serious consequences. Forest and land fires (karhutla) have once again erupted across various regions, with a total of 78.06 hectares of land burned as of mid-April. This situation serves as an early warning for both the public and local authorities, especially with the peak of the dry season expected between May and June.
Photo: Group photo (Doc: Robi)
Bogor, April 21, 2025
Bogor, West Java and Ketapang, West Kalimantan | April 21 – May 3, 2025
The Rainforest and Peatlands Fire Centre of Excellence, under the Faculty of Forestry and Environment, IPB University, successfully held the Fire Simulation and Peat Fire Control Training, an international capacity-building program aimed at strengthening technical expertise and collaboration in managing peatland fires.