Fire at Galuga Landfill in Bogor, Air Force Helicopters Deployed to Help Extinguish Blaze
Bogor Regent Rudy Susmanto said an Indonesian Air Force helicopter was deployed to help extinguish a fire at the Galuga landfill site in Cibungbulang on Tuesday morning.
“We are being assisted by the Air Force using the water bombing method, namely aerial spraying using a helicopter from the Atang Sendjaja Air Base,” said Rudy during an inspection of the fire site on Tuesday.
Aerial extinguishing was carried out to reach several fire points that are difficult for firefighting vehicles to access. The fire is located at the rear of the landfill area, a considerable distance from the main access road.
According to Rudy, officers had to connect a number of fire hoses to reach a length of around 400–500 metres. That distance caused the water pressure to weaken considerably by the time it reached the fire points.
“The fire points are at the very back, so fire engines cannot get in,” he said.
The fire began on Monday, 7 September, at around 16:00 Western Indonesia Time and grew larger around midnight. The flames were brought under control at around 03:30, though a number of hotspots still needed to be extinguished.
Rudy explained that the fire originated from farmland adjacent to the Galuga landfill, not from the active waste piles. The blaze then spread to an old disposal area that is no longer in use.
Ground-level extinguishing involved personnel from the Fire and Rescue Service, the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), the Indonesian National Armed Forces, and the Bogor Police. The police also deployed water cannon vehicles to spray the fire points.
In addition to spraying, officers dug a trench between the farmland and the landfill area to prevent the fire from spreading to the active waste piles.
Rudy confirmed there were no casualties in the incident. Meanwhile, the extent of the burnt land is still being calculated through monitoring using unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, as officers are still prioritising extinguishing efforts to prevent the flames from spreading further.