Forest and Land Fires in Bromo Under Control, Says Probolinggo BPBD
The forest and land fires in the Mount Bromo area have been brought under control and extinguished after hundreds of joint personnel tackled hotspots in both Probolinggo and Pasuruan Regencies, within the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS).
“Thank God, based on information from officers on the ground, there are no more visible hotspots. However, officers will continue to monitor the situation the following day,” said Oemar Sjarief, Head of the Probolinggo Regency Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), when contacted by telephone on Thursday evening.
He explained that personnel remain on standby to carry out cooling operations at several locations to prevent the hotspots from reappearing and spreading further across the Mount Bromo area. “Hopefully everything is completely extinguished and there are no new hotspots, because all joint personnel have been working tirelessly to put out the fires. Officers have also created firebreaks to prevent the spread of the flames,” he said.
Firefighting efforts were carried out in an integrated manner through both ground and air operations. Three helicopters were deployed to water-bomb and dampen two specific locations: the P30 area in Probolinggo Regency and Pusung in Wonokitri Village, Pasuruan Regency. To support the ground operations, the joint team deployed six fire engines, one water drone from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), one water-bombing helicopter, 70 trail motorbikes, and five double-cabin vehicles, along with manual firefighting equipment.
Oemar also urged the public to refrain from any activities that could potentially trigger fires and to immediately report any sightings of hotspots or smoke plumes around the forest area. In addition to firefighting, ground patrols and aerial monitoring are being continuously conducted to identify any remaining hotspots or heat sources. According to information gathered from the field, the total area of TNBTS land burnt across four regencies—Probolinggo, Malang, Lumajang, and Pasuruan—has been recorded at 1,120 hectares.