Ijen Crater Tourism Park Wildfires Begin to Subside

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Forest fires in the Ijen Crater Nature Tourism Park (TWA), located between the Banyuwangi and Bondowoso regencies in East Java, gradually decreased on Tuesday, September 8, especially hotspots along the hiking trail.

Banyuwangi Regent Ipuk Fiestiandani said that in addition to using a water-bombing helicopter belonging to the East Java Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) since Sunday, the joint team has carried out cooling and mopping-up operations to prevent the fire from spreading.

“Aerial monitoring shows that there are still hotspots, especially in hard-to-reach locations. Some areas are still emitting smoke, indicating a risk of fire,” said Regent Ipuk after monitoring the forest fire locations in the Ijen Crater TWA on Tuesday, as quoted by ANTARA.

Although the number of fires has significantly decreased, he continued, the main hotspots are still in hard-to-reach locations, including around Mount Papak in the Ijen mountain range. Therefore, water-bombing helicopters are still conducting aerial firefighting today.

According to Ipuk, the water-bombing helicopters carry out an average of 30 water-dropping operations per day. In one aerial firefighting operation, they carry 1,000 liters of water from the PT Medco reservoir in the Mount Ijen area.

“As of today, helicopters are still conducting aerial firefighting operations at points where smoke is suspected and could potentially cause new fires. The joint team is also combing the area for hotspots,” he said.

“Let’s pray that this can be handled quickly so the fire doesn’t spread further across the dry land in the Ijen Crater area,” Ipuk added.

Meanwhile, Head of Conservation Section Region 5 Banyuwangi Noviyani Utami added that the ground team carried out mopping up, especially on the climbing route and was assisted by a team from the Forest and Land Fire Control Center (BPKHL) for the Java, Bali, and Nusa Tenggara Regions.

“We were also assisted by the BKO from the Jabalnusra Forestry and Fire Department for the mopping-up process to ensure that embers were no longer burning, and also to map the extent of the fire and clear the climbing route,” he said.

Read: Prabowo Says Disaster Mitigation Budget Must Be Increased

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