Jalupang Karawang TPA Fire Extinguishing Using Heavy Equipment Excavator

Fire extinguishing at the Jalupang TPA Karawang. (ANTARA/HO-Kemkab Karawang)

JAKARTA - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Karawang Regency, West Java, said the team used heavy equipment to help extinguish fires at the Jalupang Final Disposal Site (TPA).

Head of BPBD Karawang Regency Mahpudi said the height of waste at the location of the fire reached 10-15 meters.

"The high air temperature, then the phenomenon of gas is released from the pile of waste itself because of sporadic hotspots. So we are trying to extinguish it from the outskirts with the help of excavators," Mahpudi said as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, November 1.

Mahpudi said the blackout was extinguished at night because it was more effective to see the hotspots that were lit and consider the safety of fire personnel. Conditions in the field are currently only sterilizing the area, as well as extinguishing the fire.

"Padaman pada malam hari setelah maghrib, bahkan sampai jam 0.00 malam. Kami berjibaku dibantu ekskavator menggung sumber api, lalu disemprot. Demikian cara kerjanya," ujar Mahpudi.

Currently, the Karawang Regency Government (Pemkab) is looking for alternative locations to accommodate waste, while waiting for the location of the Jalungang TPA to be completely extinguished. The amount of waste currently needs handling in Karawang Regency is around 1,200 tons.

According to him, there are two things that are the focus of the Karawang Regency Government, namely hoarding new waste and efforts to extinguish the Jalupang TPA while waiting for it to rain.

Of these two things, he continued, the extinguishing was carried out by hoarding hotspots with wet garbage which made the source of the fire not ignite and the puff of smoke had turned white.

The Jalupang TPA caught fire on Saturday (28/10). The fire scorched 10 hectares of land for waste disposal at the TPA. The joint team had difficulty extinguishing the fire due to the lack of heavy equipment available.

This fire caused the impact of the smoke fog that spread to four villages around the location, namely Wancimekar, North Pangulah, Pucung, and Pangulah Baru.