Fire in Raden Soerjo Grand Forest Park Extinguished, Joint Team Sweeps for Remaining Embers
The forest and land fire that struck the Raden Soerjo Grand Forest Park, particularly in the Arjuno-Welirang area, has now been declared extinguished. Joint personnel are currently shifting their focus to conducting intensive patrols to sweep for any remaining hotspots in the area.
Head of the East Java Regional Disaster Management Agency, Gatot Soebroto, confirmed that the last hotspots were observed in two strategic locations, namely the Lembah Kijang and Kembar 2 areas. However, based on the latest monitoring, the fires in both locations have been completely extinguished.
“Everything has been extinguished, the last were in the Lembah Kijang and Kembar 2 areas. Today the ground team carried out suppression of embers in the area,” said Gatot on Sunday (23/8/2026).
In today’s suppression efforts, the joint team had actually deployed a helicopter to carry out water bombing procedures. However, weather constraints became the main obstacle. The Arjuno-Welirang area was once again shrouded in thick fog during the day, forcing the helicopter fleet to return early to Abdulrachman Saleh Airport in Malang Regency.
“Water bombing was carried out once, but due to foggy weather conditions, the helicopter returned to Abd. Saleh Malang in the afternoon. So it could not be carried out optimally because of the fog,” he explained further.
Although the fire has been confirmed extinguished, Gatot stressed that vigilance remains heightened. Patrols will continue to be conducted the following day to ensure no fire reignites. If new smoke or fire spots are found, water bombing operations may be resumed.
Currently, ground teams remain on standby to conduct thorough sweeps to monitor remaining embers that may still be hidden beneath the land surface.
“Tomorrow patrols will be conducted again and water bombing will be carried out if there is still smoke. Meanwhile, the ground team will continue to patrol to observe the remaining embers,” concluded Gatot.