Investigation into Jatiwaringin Landfill Fire to Begin After Extinguishing Efforts Completed

The Ministry of Environment/Bureau of Environmental Control (KLH/BPLH) has stated that the investigation into the cause of the fire at the Jatiwaringin Final Disposal Site (TPA) in Mauk, Tangerang Regency, Banten, will be conducted after the extinguishing optimisation is complete. Deputy for Environmental Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Environment, Police Inspector General Rizal Irawan, said the current priority is extinguishing the fire and preventing the spread of smoke from the landfill fire. “As I said yesterday, our focus now is on extinguishing and preventing the spread. It is impossible for us to process the crime scene here to look for the cause (of the fire),” Rizal said in Tangerang on Sunday. He stressed that investigative steps and disclosure for law enforcement will only be taken after the entire extinguishing process at the Jatiwaringin TPA is declared completely finished. “We will look at law enforcement efforts after the process is complete. Then we will deploy the team here again,” he said. Rizal revealed that the Jatiwaringin TPA received administrative sanctions from the KLH in 2025 related to poor management. In addition to imposing sanctions, the ministry instructed the regional government as the manager to implement a controlled landfill system. “From last year to now, the efforts made by the district government have been to implement a controlled landfill. It turns out that over a year, they have only managed to succeed on five or six hectares. We can understand that from a total land area of 33 hectares, it is certainly impossible in one year,” said Rizal. He noted that the hotspots that triggered the massive fire at the TPA were located outside the controlled landfill handling zone. “So, what burned was in the area outside the controlled landfill,” Rizal explained. He added that the Ministry of Environment is currently scheduling a major evaluation of 390 landfills across Indonesia, which will begin in early August 2026. “That evaluation will be on 1 August. So all, around 390 TPA, will be evaluated. Which ones are compliant and which are not,” he stressed. Previously, Deputy Minister of Environment Diaz Faisal Malik Hendropriyono stated that the firefighting operation at the Jatiwaringin TPA was being carried out through a joint operation involving personnel from various agencies. Thermal drones equipped with infrared cameras have been deployed to detect heat sources and analyse the origin of the fire. “We can only conduct monitoring analysis via drones periodically,” he said. Furthermore, two mobile monitoring systems have been deployed to monitor air quality at the fire location, measuring substances such as SO_2 (sulphur dioxide), NO_2 (nitrogen dioxide), and PM 1.0 and PM 2.5. “The good quality standard is 15.5, moderate is from 15.5 to 55.5, and after that it is unhealthy and hazardous. And this has reached a level of 1,000. So for several days it has been at a level of 1,000, but last night I saw it drop drastically,” he explained. Given the fire’s characteristics, which are similar to peatland fires, the Ministry of Forestry has deployed 30 Manggala Agni personnel from Sulawesi and West Java regions. They are equipped with specialised high-pressure equipment to extinguish the fire directly at its source beneath the surface of the waste pile. “Because this landfill is not necessarily ineffective, but it is less effective if water is only sprayed from above. Because underneath it is still burning, so we need the help of Manggala Agni to inject water right to the point below the surface,” he said. Additionally, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) together with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) is preparing a Weather Modification Technology (TMC) operation scheme to help accelerate the extinguishing process, so that the emergency situation from the fire, which has affected approximately 15 hectares, can be brought under control soon. “So it is possible to conduct a TMC operation tomorrow. We will do it together with BNPB and BMKG,” said Diaz.