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View all search resultsFirefighters, villagers unite as wildfires threaten Sumatran elephant habitat
Wildfires have been burning inside the Padang Sugihan Wildlife Reserve since August. By early September, approximately 2,300 hectares of the reserve’s 88,148 ha had been burned, accounting for about 2.61 percent of its total area.
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Manggala Agni forest firefighting personnel ride on a boat to reach the forest and land fire inside the Padang Sugihan animal sanctuary in Ogan Komering Ilir regency, South Sumatra, on Sept. 10, 2026. (Antara/Nova Wahyudi)
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s wildfires sweep through South Sumatra, conservation officials, firefighters and local residents are racing to protect the elephants of the Padang Sugihan Wildlife Reserve in Banyuasin regency, working together to keep the animals safe as flames threaten their natural habitat.
For Suharto, who leads the firefighting team at the Jalur 21 Elephant Conservation Center inside the reserve, protecting the elephants and their food sources remains a top priority.
“Our priority right now is to protect the areas that have not yet burned, to keep the elephants safe and preserve their food sources,” he told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.
But access to water remains one of the biggest obstacles to containing the fires.
“Crews sometimes have to walk several kilometers carrying hoses in search of water, only to find that many sources have dried up,” Suharto said.
Establishing water sources inside the reserve would make firefighting operations faster and more efficient, he said, allowing crews to focus on extinguishing the flames rather than spending valuable time searching for water and transporting equipment.
Ground operations remain essential to fully extinguishing the fires, particularly in the reserve’s peatlands. Although aerial water bombing can help suppress surface flames, it cannot reach embers smoldering beneath the ground.
