Police Investigate Guntur Forest Fire Allegedly Deliberately

Officers checked the location of the forest fire on Guntur Mountain, Garut Regency, West Java, Thursday (7/9/2023). BETWEEN/HO-Tarogong Kaler Police.

The police are investigating a forest fire case on Mount Guntur, Tarogong Kaler District, Garut Regency, West Java, which indicated an element of intent was burned by an irresponsible party.

"Currently we are continuing to investigate," said Head of the Tarogong Kaler Police, Iptu Sona Rahadian Amus, quoted by ANTARA, Friday, September 8.

He said forest fires in Guntur occurred on Thursday (7/9) which scorched many forest plants.

According to him, the incident of forest fires is suspected to have an element of intent or human act, so it needs to be investigated further for the cause of the fire.

The allegation, he said, was strengthened by the results of the investigation of the crime scene and the statements of a number of witnesses who had been examined by the police.

"There are indications there," said Sona.

There were a number of witnesses who saw suspicious people before the forest fire broke out.

All witness statements and the results of the crime scene processing, he said, became material for the police to carry out further investigations.

"What is certain is that we are working and conducting a more in-depth investigation," he said.

Meanwhile, Head of the Natural Resources Conservation Section of Garut Region V, Dodi Arisandi, added that his party would report the fire incident and then report it to the police.

His party has formed an investigation team to find out the cause of the fire in the Guntur forest, especially in terms of its intentional elements.

"If there is a problem, it will continue," he said.

The forest fire on Mount Guntur was reported to have occurred on Thursday at around 10:00 WIB, then all joint officers and volunteers were deployed to extinguish the fire until the fire was finally extinguished, Thursday night.

The BKSDA noted that the area of burned forest land is estimated to be around 59 hectares more by burning many forest plants such as pine trees, logs and other types.