Bromo Fire Perpetrators Fined IDR 1.5 Billion And BNPB Says The Value Is Less

Probolinggo Police Chief AKBP Wisnu Wardana showed evidence of forest and land fires on Mount Bromo's Teletubbies in a press conference held at the local Police Headquarters, Thursday (7/9/2023) evening. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Head of the Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Abdul Muhari assessed that fines for perpetrators of forest and land fires (karhutla) in the Mount Bromo area, East Java, were still lacking when compared to the operational costs of water bombing helicopters.

Abdul in Disaster Briefing followed online in Jakarta, explaining that the perpetrator or person in charge of the wedding organizer who lit the flare during the pre-wedding photo session that caused the fire in Bromo, had been charged with imprisonment and a maximum fine of IDR 1.5 billion.

"I will only talk about Rp1.5 billion. The operational cost of water bombing is one piece, one hour it's more than Rp200 million and it's not finished yet maybe (still) less, because as we saw in (Gunung) Arjuna it's just our water bombing operation for more than four days," Abdul said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, September 12.

Abdul also revealed that 90 percent of forest and land fires were caused by human acts, either direct or indirect.

In the peatland area, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) already has a law enforcement mechanism. The TNI-Polri then reviewed forensicly the cause of the incident for law enforcement for the perpetrators.

Abdul conveyed that this could be an evaluation for the community that it is very important to prevent or avoid negligence that causes fires. Because not only economic losses are borne, but also ecological losses.

"We may be able to pay economic losses but ecological losses may take time to restore," he said.

In addition, Abdul said that his party often received very high reports about fires on the side of the toll road. This can be ascertained why motorists throw cigarette butts onto the streets.

"Let's take care of our environment together. The weather conditions are not the cause, but will be a very fast catalyst to be able to make fires escalated into disasters," he said.