East Java Deputy Governor Details Helicopter Firefighting Challenges at Bromo

East Java Deputy Governor Emil Elestianto Dardak has revealed a number of obstacles faced by the joint team in efforts to extinguish forest and land fires in the Mount Bromo area.

Emil said one of the main obstacles is the weather factor, namely fog. Foggy weather limits helicopter operations when carrying out water bombing in the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park area.

Initially, Emil explained, on Monday (10/8), two helicopters belonging to the National Disaster Management Agency were deployed, namely the PK-DAP and PK-DAN types.

The PK-DAP helicopter has a water carrying capacity of 1,000 litres per sortie and carried out four water bombing runs in a day. Meanwhile, the PK-DAN helicopter, which is a larger category, namely the Super Puma type, has a capacity of 4,000 litres per sortie.

The Super Puma helicopter, Emil said, had made five water collection trips with a total of 20,000 litres. However, operations were halted at midday due to fog obstructing visibility.

“This has been 5 trips. So a total of 20,000 litres. But at around 14.00 WIB, because of fog, not smoke from the fire, but because of fog they had to return to Malang,” said Emil on CNN Indonesia’s Prime News, Monday (10/8) evening.

In addition to weather constraints, Emil also highlighted the operational limitations of helicopters at night. This condition means that handling the fire at night depends entirely on ground officers working manually.

“So helicopters cannot operate at night. Meanwhile, at night we also have to keep beating back the fire, the fire must be pushed back,” he said.

He added that officers in the field continue to work at night using manual tools in the form of fire beaters, assisted by fire engine units coordinated by the East Java Regional Disaster Management Agency together with surrounding district disaster management agencies as well as support from other district and city disaster management agencies.

“So, therefore we know that officers at night are still working. They continue to carry out manual handling efforts using fire beaters, and there are fire engine units,” he said.

Furthermore, Emil explained that the initial fire point in the Bromo area, which had begun to be brought under control, spread rapidly again so that the number of personnel in the field could not keep pace with the rate of fire spread. This condition ultimately meant that handling had to be assisted by water bombing helicopters.

“As in the case of Bromo Tengger Semeru, the initial point which was actually starting to become conducive then saw fire emerge which caused it to spread far more quickly and could not be matched by the availability of personnel at that time, so it had to be assisted by water bombing helicopters,” he said.

He said the deployment of helicopters, which had been coordinated by East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa several days earlier, was considered to have helped mitigate the expansion of the fire area which had the potential to become more massive.

On Monday, Emil said the fire point at Puncak P-30 had been brought under control, while the points at Dingklik and Penanjakan also showed a downward trend in the rate of fire spread.

“So now P30 is under control, the focus on Dingklik has also started to show a downward trend in its spread rate, and Penanjakan is the same,” he said.

Although conditions are considered to be improving, Emil stressed that his party remains on alert, including ensuring the completeness of fire engine units, personnel, manual tools in the form of fire beaters, and personal protective equipment for officers dealing directly with exposure to thick smoke at the fire location.

“We remain on alert. That means the fire engine units, then the personnel, the fire beater tools and, no less important, personal protective equipment for the officers because they will be dealing with smoke. Some of this smoke is thick, so they must not inhale dangerous gases from the smoke,” he said.

The fire in the Bromo area began on Monday (3/8), at around 17.00 WIB. Following the spread of the fire points, the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park temporarily closed all tourist access to the Mount Bromo area as of Saturday (8/8).

As of Monday (10/8), the area of Bromo affected by the fire reached 742 hectares. Firefighting efforts also continue on the ground and in the air, with the deployment of three helicopters, one drone, and eight fire engine units. A number of joint teams have also been involved in this operation.