BNPB Will Use Water Bombing Engineering To Put Out Forest Fires On Mount Merbabu

The fire burned Mount Merbabu land in Jlarem Village, Gladagsari, Boyolali, Central Java, (PHOTO: DOK. ANTARA)

The government will use water bomb techniques or "water boom" to deal with forest fires in the Mount Merbabu area, Central Java. The Director General of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Satyawan Pudyatmoko, stated that this action was taken because the manual outage was hampered by the difficult terrain.

Forest fires in the Mount Merbabu area have spread to Semarang, Boyolali, and Magelang Regencies. Manual extinguishing efforts were hampered because the peak of the mountain was difficult for humans and vehicles to reach, as well as strong winds that could not be predicted.

Pudyatmoko said that they had tried to localize the fire so as not to spread further, but outages from the air with "water booming" techniques were still needed. Assistance from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has been requested to carry out this extinguishing action.

Meanwhile, a provisional report stated that the area of the burned area reached around 400 hectares. The Regent of Semarang, Ngesti Nugraha, has confirmed that the evacuation of residents affected by forest fires has been carried out. A total of 91 residents were evacuated to Batur Village Hall and their relatives' houses. Various needs of residents in the evacuation, such as blankets, towels, and the establishment of public kitchens, have also been prepared.