Firefighting Efforts on Mount Arjuno-Welirang Hampered by Fog
Efforts to extinguish forest and land fires (karhutla) in the Mount Arjuno-Welirang area, Pasuruan Regency, East Java, remained hampered by fog as of Thursday (20/8). Flames were still visible at several points.
“We are facing serious challenges; thick fog and steep terrain have made it difficult for teams to move in the field,” said Gatot Subroto, Head of the East Java Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), in Surabaya on Thursday (20/8).
As of Thursday (20/8) at 12.00 WIB, active fire spots were still reported in the Gunung Kembar 2 area and were observed spreading around the Lengkean area, also known as Lapangan Kotak. Some had already been extinguished.
To mitigate safety risks, the management of the R. Soerjo Grand Forest Park (Tahura) has officially closed all hiking routes on Mount Arjuno-Welirang since Wednesday (19/8) until an unspecified date.
He explained that hundreds of personnel from a joint team have been deployed to comb the area by land. Firefighting is being carried out manually using the gepyok method, along extreme routes from Gunung Kembar 1, Gunung Kembar 2, and Lapangan Kotak, heading towards the summit of Mount Arjuno.
The East Java BPBD has prepared a PK-DAP type helicopter on standby at the Kaliandra Resort field helipad.
“However, aerial firefighting operations (water bombing) cannot yet be executed,” he said.
Gatot added that thick fog and low clouds blanketing the mountain area have severely limited pilot visibility, making flight too risky. Ground crews must also contend with steep paths and poor communication signals at high altitudes.
He confirmed there have been no casualties in the incident. Meanwhile, the total area of land affected by the fire on Mount Arjuno-Welirang is still being assessed and mapped by expert teams on site.
“As the operations and logistics command centre, the East Java Provincial BPBD together with the Pasuruan Regency BPBD have established a main command post tent at the Kaliandra Resort field,” he explained.