Forest and Land Fire in Gunung Putri, Garut, Scorches One Hectare

A prolonged dry season has triggered forest and land fires in the Gunung Putri area, specifically in Blok Cijolang, Rancabango Village, Tarogong Kaler District, Garut Regency, West Java. The incident, which occurred on Tuesday (21/7/2026), scorched at least one hectare of vegetation.

Tarogong Kaler Sub-district Head, Rakhmat Alamsyah, confirmed that his office received reports from residents regarding a hotspot in Blok Cijolang. Responding to the report, a joint team consisting of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, the National Police, the Regional Disaster Management Agency, the Fire Department, the Natural Resources Conservation Agency, and the Fire Care Community was immediately deployed to the location to extinguish the fire.

"The joint officers moved to the location in the area behind Rancabango Hill Housing. The burned land included bushes, reeds, bamboo groves, and spread to residents’ corn plantations," said Rakhmat Alamsyah on Tuesday (21/7).

Rakhmat explained that the extremely dry weather conditions accompanied by strong winds caused the fire to grow and spread quickly. The extinguishing process was carried out intensively using manual equipment in the form of jet shooters and the assistance of one water supply vehicle.

"The joint team succeeded in extinguishing the fire, followed by a cooling down process and monitoring to ensure there were no hotspots that could potentially trigger another fire. Based on data collection, the area of land scorched reached one hectare," he added.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive of the Garut Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency, Aah Anwar Saefulloh, stated that the prolonged dry season was the main factor causing the land drought in Gunung Putri. He suspected that friction on dry vegetation amid the extreme weather triggered the flames.

"We urge residents to be very careful, not to discard cigarette butts carelessly or burn rubbish around forest areas, because a lot of dry land is highly flammable at this time," concluded Aah. There were no casualties in the incident.