The European Union Forest Fire Response Group (EUFFRG) conducted a survey and estimate of land areas affected in mid-October 1997. Detailed studies were conducted on Sumatra and extrapolations to the rest of Indonesia were based on these studies. The studies were based on hot spot assessments from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather satellites, coarse resolution images from European Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terra (SPOT), similar images from American Landsat satellites, and other interpretive products from the United States Forest Service, and the National Forest Inventory in Indonesia's Ministry of Forest.
Distribution of the burned areas showed impacts on many of the major islands. While Kalimantan and Sumatra suffered most of the damage, the GOI estimated that 49,000 hectares were affected on Sulawesi, as well as 63,000 hectares on Maluku and Irian Jaya.
At the time of writing, no ground verification has been made of these areas.