Forest fire scorches Mount Bromo National Park in East Java

EAST JAVA, INDONESIA: A forest and land fire has been reported in the Widodaren Savanna area, part of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in Pasuruan Regency, East Java.

The blaze, which started on Wednesday (19 June), around 5:30 PM local time, has affected an estimated eight hectares of land.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) of the Republic of Indonesia suspects that the fire was caused by human activity.

“It is strongly suspected that the cause of the fire was human activity and is in the process of being investigated,” said Thomas Nifinluri, Director of Forest and Land Fire Control at KLHK, on Thursday (20 June).

Efforts to extinguish the fire were promptly initiated by a team from the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Center (TNBTS), in collaboration with the local community.

Twenty officers from TNBTS have been involved in the extinguishing process since the fire was identified, utilizing two-wheeled vehicles, jet shooters, fire bats, and sickles to create partitions to prevent the fire from spreading.

The vegetation primarily affected by the fire includes savannah and undergrowth.

According to Septi Eka Wardhani, Head of the Administration Section of TNBTS, the fire was successfully extinguished on Thursday (20 June) around 11:00 AM.

“The fire was successfully extinguished on 20 June at around 11:00 WIB,” she confirmed.

“Currently, officers are conducting a cooling operation in the fire-affected area using water from a jet shooter,” she explained.

Despite the incident, tourist activities were not disrupted as the fire’s location was distant from visitor areas.

This is not the first time the area has experienced such an event.

On 6 September 2023, a significant fire occurred due to visitors using flares for photography.

This previous incident led to the temporary closure of tourist access to the Bromo area.

The Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Center recorded losses of IDR 8.3 billion (US$504,680) from the 2023 fire triggered by flares.