100 Hectares Of Forests In Lereng, Mount Agung Burns, Hotspots Difficult For Officers To Access

Mount Agung Karangasem Bali/ILLUSTRATION OF DOC BETWEEN

The fire occurred in a forest area on the slopes of Mount Agung, in Karangasem Regency, Bali, so far it has not been completely extinguished.

Head of BPBD Karangasem Regency, Ida Bagus Ketut Arimbawa, said the fire was reported to have occurred on Sunday (13/10) at around 11.00 WITA.

From the officer's observation, it was reported that the fire was still happening until Tuesday (15/10) morning.

"The results of coordination with the RPH (Develop Management Plan) supervisor for the Rendang area, this morning at 08:05 WITA, the smog points have begun to shrink," said Arimbawa.

He explained, on Sunday (13/10) at around 11.00 WITA, a hotspot was detected in a forest area around Pengubengan Temple at an altitude of approximately 2000 meters above sea level. The supervisory team from the RPH reported that the fire began to be seen remotely.

Then, on Monday (14/10) at around 10.30 WITA, the team monitored the location of the forest fire and between the B.933 to B.935 forest boundaries.

From the results of monitoring, identified six hotspots that burned vegetation in the form of pine trees, pine, and shrubs with an estimated area of affected areas of 100 hectares.

"The area of the affected area is estimated to reach 100 hectares," said Arimbawa.

He said officers had not been able to make efforts to extinguish the fire because the hotspots were in a steep location. In addition, the hot weather also risks expanding the fire.

"Efforts to extinguish the fire have not been carried out because difficult access to the location of the fire, which takes about four hours to travel. The hot weather conditions around the fire area also increase risk and slow the handling," he said.

Currently, the team continues to monitor Pengubengan Temple, which is under the hotspot area, and is waiting for possible conditions for further steps.

"The RPH and related teams will continue to provide periodic reports regarding this situation, focusing on the safety of teams in the field and efforts to anticipate the spread of fires in the forest area," he said.