Joint Officers Put Out Fires In Lereng Arjuno

Joint officers while trying to extinguish the fire that engulfed the forest area in Bukit Pager Watu, Singosari District, Malang Regency. (ANTARA/HO-Polres Malang)

Malang Resort Police together with the Forest and Land Fire Management Team (Karhutla) managed to extinguish the fire that engulfed the forest area in Bukit Pager Watu, Singosari District.

"That's right, the hotspots have been successfully extinguished with a joint team of the TNI-Polri, Polhut, and volunteers," said Head of Public Relations of the Malang Police, Ipda Dicka Ermantara, as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, July 23.

A number of hotspots began to be detected by fire monitoring applications at around 10.10 WIB.

The fire hit a protected forest area in Petak 117 A HL and plot 116 HL which is included in Toyomarto Village, Singosari District.

The police immediately coordinated with the TNI, Perhutani, village officials, and volunteers to immediately go to the fire site to extinguish the fire and prevent fires from spreading further.

"After receiving the incident report, the Singosari Police and the joint team immediately responded by visiting the location to extinguish the fire so that the fire would not spread further," said Ipda Dicka.

Ipda Dicka stated that joint officers faced obstacles while trying to extinguish the fire because the fire location could not be passed by fire engines. A number of hotspots are known to have flared on the slopes of a steep cliff and ravine.

Within three hours, the team managed to extinguish the fire with makeshift equipment. The fire is thought to have engulfed land covered by wild plants and 21 hectares of weeds.

Ipda Dicka said that his party is still investigating the exact cause of the fire. The police are also gathering witness statements and evidence at the scene.

He also appealed to people who are active in forest areas to be careful in using fire, such as cigarette butts and matches, because the prolonged dry season makes grass dry and flammable when exposed to fire.

"We urge people who are active in forest areas to be careful in using lighters or throwing cigarette butts, to minimize the potential for forest fires," he said.