Discarded Cigarette Butt Suspected as Cause of Major Fire at Gorontalo Wood Processing Company
A massive fire that engulfed a pile of logs at a wood processing company in Monano Village, North Gorontalo, is suspected to have been caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette butt. The incident occurred on Saturday, 25 July 2026, at around 12:15 WITA.
Director of Samapta for the Gorontalo Regional Police, Commissioner Satrya Perdana Panuntung Tarung Binti, stated that upon receiving the report, his unit deployed the Forest and Land Fire Disaster Management team to support personnel from the North Gorontalo Police and the fire brigade. The affected area, consisting of stacked, cut jabon wood, spanned approximately two hectares.
Nine personnel were dispatched at 4:35 p.m. WITA and arrived at the scene at 6:15 p.m. WITA. They immediately coordinated with the North Gorontalo Police Chief, the Monano Police Chief, the local military command, firefighting teams, and company management to divide the firefighting sectors. Joint personnel conducted spraying and created firebreaks to prevent the flames from spreading to other wood stacks, while also securing the area.
The firefighting operation involved one tactical forest and land fire vehicle from Samapta, two water cannon vehicles from the Mobile Brigade, two fire engines from the local government, and two water tankers and two excavators from the company. Commissioner Satrya noted that the abundance of flammable wood material and strong winds made the firefighting efforts particularly challenging.
By 2:30 a.m. WITA, the fire was successfully extinguished, and cooling operations were carried out to ensure no remaining hotspots. Following the incident, the police secured the scene and conducted an investigation. Based on the crime scene investigation, the fire is strongly suspected to have originated from a carelessly discarded cigarette butt. No fatalities were reported, but the company’s material losses are still being assessed. The police have urged the public to refrain from discarding cigarette butts carelessly and to avoid unsupervised burning of rubbish or land.