The Fire And Forest Fire Department Of Mount Arjuno Via Land Was Fired After Water Bombing

Archival photos. Fire burning forests and land (karhutla) in the Mount Arjuno area can be seen in Prigen, Pasuruan, East Java, Tuesday (5/9/2023)/ANTARA PHOTO/Umarul Faruq/tom)

JAKARTA - Head of the East Java Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Gatot Soebroto said the fire was extinguished on land forest and land fires (karhutla) in the Mount Arjuno area, East Java, again after using heliwater bombing.

Gatot said that during the two weeks the extinguishing effort was carried out with the BNPB heliwater bombing, due to difficult, steep and steep terrain.

The fire sometimes still appears in a ravine area that is not reached by the land task force extinguishing forest and land fires, but has started to become conducive.

"Several hotspots and smoke caused by coal that are still lagging behind can be extinguished by friends in the area, both in Pasuruan in Malang Regency and in Mojokerto Regency as well as in Batu City," said Gatot as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, September 13.

According to Gatot, the blackout with water bombing has succeeded in extinguishing the fire on the surface of the region. However, behind the wood that was extinguished at the top, at the bottom it was still there and there was a fire found but below it there were still husks that stored the coal.

"It could be a fire or another fire appeared, because there was a very strong wind above the mountain so that the fire could engulf or target locations that could still burn," he said.

Until now, according to the results of monitoring, coal and smoke left after the blackout with water bombing helicopters was very thin. So that the burned area can be reached again by the ground task force.

Forest and land fires in the Mount Arjuno area, first occurred in the Bukit Budug Asu area, Singosari District, Malang Regency, on August 26, 2023. The fire spread to various areas such as Pasuruan, Mojokerto and Batu City Regencies.