Garbage Heap Fire At Pakusari Jember TPA Starts To Go Out After 7 Days

Officers continue to try to extinguish the smoke that is still escaping in a pile of garbage at the Pakusari TPA, Jember Regency, Thursday (25/8/2022). (ANTARA/Zumrotun Solichah)

JEMBER - The fire at the Pakusari Final Disposal Site (TPA) in Jember Regency, East Java, began to extinguish after seven consecutive days firefighters extinguished the blaze.

"Thank God, the fire has started to go out after the cooperation of all regional officials who have water tanks to help extinguish the fire at the Pakusari TPA which has been going on for seven days," said Jember Deputy Regent M. Balya Firjaun Barlaman when inspecting the Pakusari landfill fire. , August 25.

According to him, there were several obstacles that caused the extinguishing of the fire at the Pakusari landfill which lasted for up to seven days, even though the firefighters had tried their best to extinguish the fire in the pile of garbage.

"The equipment they have is limited because the officers do not have the tools to put water in the burning garbage pile, so heavy equipment is needed. In addition, the strong wind is an obstacle to the difficulty of extinguishing there," he said.

To anticipate that it will not happen again, he continued, the Jember Regency Government has restricted scavengers from smoking when looking for items in the garbage heap because a small fire can be the cause of a fire.

"The Environment Agency will also prepare hydrants at the Pakusari landfill, so that at any time a fire can be contained quickly and does not spread," he said.

The Deputy Regent, who is usually called Gus Firjaun, said that the Jember Regency Government would provide assistance with basic food packages to residents affected by the smoke from the fire at the Pakusari landfill.

"The Health Office also conducts health checks on residents around the Pakusari TPA which burned for seven days. Hopefully the fire is completely extinguished," he said.

Previously, the Head of the Jember Environment Service (DLH), Sugiarto, said that strong wind conditions made the embers in the mountain of garbage get bigger and resulted in the emergence of smoke again.

"This is the difficulty in dealing with the fire in the Pakusari TPA in the north area, so the fire is difficult to extinguish," he said.