4 Days Of Struggle, Joint Officers Finally Put Out The Fire On Mount Guntur

The atmosphere of the forest area of Mount Guntur, Garut Regency, West Java. (ANTARA/Feri Purnama)

GARUT - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Garut Regency, West Java, confirmed that forest fires in Guntur had been extinguished after joint officers carried out efforts to extinguish and block it for four days. "The forest land fire on Mount Guntur has been extinguished, there has been no puff of smoke, and the operation has been closed since yesterday," said Garut Regency BPBD Chief Executive totaling Anwar Saepuloh when contacted by reporters in Garut, Antara, Friday, August 23. The fire in the conservation forest area has been known since Monday, August 19 night. Then officers from the Garut BPBD and from the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA), the police and other ranks carried out the process of extinguishing it manually and burning barriers so as not to spread. The parties involved in overcoming forest fires were about 40 combined people from various elements of the unit and local government agencies who went down to monitor and go to the fire site to extinguish the fire. "The way we do not extinguish the fire directly, because the fire moves faster and more dangerous, we break the fire channel, burn it," he said. He conveyed that the location of the fire was quite far from residential areas, so it was confirmed that residents were safe from the threat of forest fires. However, he said, his party is still on standby to monitor the Guntur Mountain area, because it still has the potential for forest fires during the dry season. "With the hot conditions because this dryness is quite easy for forest land fires to occur, that's why we continue to monitor it," said God willing. He said that even though there were no more flames, the Guntur forest area was still not allowed for the general public or tourists to climb the mountain. He appealed to the public not to carry out activities in forest areas, let alone burn something that could trigger forest land fires. "We educate residents not to carry out activities that can trigger the arrival of the fire, and the climb has not been opened, because there are still remnants of the fire, it is feared that it will happen again," he said.

Previously, the West Java BKSDA recorded a forest land fire on Mount Guntur of about 200 hectares, burning logs and trees growing in the area. The forest fire incident did not cause any casualties, but damaged forest plants on Mount Guntur.