Police Find Out The Cause Of Mount Papandayan Fire To This Day

GARUT - Police are investigating the causes of forest and land fires (karhutla) in the conservation area of Mount Papandayan, Garut, West Java (West Java).

"The cause of the fire is still under investigation," said Head of Cisurupan Police Iptu Asep Saepudin in Garut, Monday, October 23, confiscated by Antara.

He said the police received information about a forest fire in the Tegal Alun Gunung Papandayan Block, Sunday, October 22 evening.

Following up, the police headed to the location of the fire to check and try to extinguish the fire.

As of Monday, October 23 at noon, Asep continued, it was still not extinguished. However, the fire was already small compared to the night incident.

He conveyed that his staff together with joint officers from other agencies and volunteers were still focused on extinguishing and anticipating further fires, while continuing to carry out investigation activities.

"We are still focused on extinguishing the fire," he said.

Regarding the area is a hiking trail, Asep confirmed it, but the location is rarely up to climbers, because it is far away and is almost adjacent to Bandung Regency.

He conveyed that the location of the fire was in the middle of a mountain that was difficult for humans to reach or far from residential areas, nor could firefighters' equipment be reached.

"The fire point is located in the middle of the mountain, far from residential areas and cannot be reached by fire extinguishers, currently joint officers are still on standby at the location," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Garut Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD)waji Anwar Saefulloh added that the location of the fire is usually used for camping activities.

"There should be campaigns, they're usually campaigning," he said.

Burned forest land is reported in the form of bushes and trees. The area of the burned land is not yet known.

Fires in the Papandayan forest had previously occurred in the same location as the Tegal Alun Block in 2015.