Pratikno Responds from the Location of the Bromo Fire, Allegedly Sick and Resigned

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Pratikno denied the news that he was ill and resigned from his post. He said he was still carrying out his duties and was in the Bromo area to deal with the fire.

"No. I'm not sick, I'm not retiring. I'm still on duty," said Pratikno when contacted by reporters via telephone, Tuesday, August 11.

Pratikno gave an explanation after being asked about the news that was circulating that he had resigned because of illness.

He said he left for Malang around 06.30 WIB before continuing on to Bromo to attend a coordination meeting to accelerate the fire extinguishing.

"I'm at Bromo because there is a fire," he said.

According to Pratikno, the fire in the area previously reached 36 points. When he was at the location, there were still two fire points.

The government maintains BNPB assistance in the form of water bombing to help extinguish fires. Water bombing is a fire extinguishing from the air by dropping water from an aircraft or helicopter.

Pratikno also visited the area near the fire location. The government coordinated with the local government, TNI, Polri, and Pangdam to prevent the fire from spreading and anticipate other fire-prone points.

Weather Modification Operations or OMCs are also prepared to assist in handling fires. However, the operation cannot be carried out because there are not enough clouds.

"This OMC is temporarily not working because there are no clouds," said Pratikno.

He said that based on the forecast received by the government, clouds that allow the implementation of the OMC are expected to be available in about four days.

"We run OMC as long as there is sufficient cloud," he said.