Bromo Fire Rages for Six Days, Indonesian Navy Deployed

The forest and land fire in the Mount Bromo area of East Java remains unextinguished despite having raged since Monday (3/8). As of Saturday evening (8/8), a joint task force was still battling the flames spreading across two areas simultaneously: Bromo Watu Gede in Probolinggo Regency and the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in Malang Regency.

The latest data from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) records that the burnt area has reached 176.20 hectares, a figure that may still rise as the assessment process is not yet complete.

Aerial operations have been deployed. In addition to ground teams using fire trucks and manual beating methods, the BNPB and the East Java Provincial Government have dispatched two helicopters, one from the Indonesian Navy’s Aviation Centre (Puspenerbal) and another from the BNPB, each with a water-carrying capacity of 1,000 litres. The Abdulrachman Saleh Air Force Base has been prepared as the air operations command post.

Obstacles on the ground are relatively severe, with the steep slopes of the Bromo Caldera making hotspots difficult to reach by land, thus making the air route the primary mainstay. "This condition makes air operations one of the crucial efforts to reach areas that cannot be accessed optimally via land routes," said Abdul Muhari, Ph.D., Head of the BNPB Data, Information and Communication Centre.

As a result, since 3 August at 22.00 WIB, parts of the Mount Bromo tourist area have been temporarily closed, including entry points from Malang and Lumajang Regencies, with no clear timeline for when they will reopen. "The BNPB, together with all relevant elements, will continue to conduct integrated monitoring and handling, both through ground and air operations, to control the hotspots and prevent the fire from spreading to other areas," said Abdul Muhari.

As of now, there have been no reports of casualties from this incident.