Buleleng Fire Service Considers Drone Procurement After Pemuteran Forest Fire

The Buleleng Fire and Rescue Service (Damkartan) is reviewing the procurement of drone technology for firefighting operations. The move follows difficulties encountered by personnel in reaching hotspots during a forest and land fire that affected 48.6 hectares in Pemuteran Village, Gerokgak District, Buleleng, Bali.

Head of Buleleng Damkartan, I Gede Arya Suardana, stated that the characteristics of forest fires differ from those of residential fires. In addition to the challenging access for vehicles, there is often a lack of water supply at the scene.

‘Forest and land fires that are difficult to reach certainly require different equipment. Besides the fleet being unable to enter, there is also no water supply,’ Arya Suardana said on Tuesday (21/7/2026).

He noted that firefighting drone technology is now being considered. However, he stressed that the procurement of such equipment must still be aligned with the regional budget capacity. ‘If the budget is sufficient, we can accommodate it later,’ he added.

Arya acknowledged that until now, handling fires in hard-to-reach areas has relied on manual firefighting methods. In some cases, the fires were simply left to burn out on their own, provided they did not threaten residential areas.

In addition to drones, the agency is also mapping out the need for portable pump systems with long-range hoses to reach fire spots from the base of hills. Arya noted that his team would coordinate with the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) as tackling forest and land fires requires complementary efforts.

The fire, which affected protected forest and production forest areas in Pemuteran Village, started on Friday (17/7) and was only extinguished on Sunday (19/7). The total burned area reached approximately 48.6 hectares, consisting of 28.21 hectares of production forest and 20.39 hectares of protected forest.