Fire in Way Kambas National Park Extinguished, All Elephants Reported Safe

The Ministry of Forestry has confirmed that a forest fire in the Kuala Penet Resort area of Way Kambas National Park, East Lampung Regency, was successfully extinguished on Saturday evening. All Sumatran elephants in the area are reported to be in safe condition.

Head of the Public Relations and Foreign Cooperation Bureau at the Ministry of Forestry, Ristianto Pribadi, said the fire in the Kuala Penet Resort area was first reported on Friday afternoon. According to him, the flames were fully extinguished on Saturday at around 7pm local time.

“Based on monitoring by officers, Sumatran elephants in their natural habitat and at the Elephant Conservation Centre are far from the fire location and have not been directly affected,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

He explained that, based on monitoring by the Way Kambas National Park Authority, wild elephant herds are located in the northern part of the national park, far from the fire site. Meanwhile, elephants at the Elephant Conservation Centre are also in an unaffected area.

This means that both wild elephants and those at the Elephant Conservation Centre are monitored as safe and not directly impacted by the incident. However, officers are continuing to monitor wildlife movements and the condition of the area to ensure optimal protection of wild animals.

Ristianto said the fire response involved around 250 combined personnel. Firefighting efforts faced challenges including the peatland characteristics of the terrain, difficult access to the location, and water sources located quite far from the fire area.

“Some locations even had to be reached by personnel on foot. Through joint efforts and intensive handling, the fire was successfully extinguished,” he said.