Jumhur: Jatiwaringin Landfill Fire Reduced to 1.5 Hectares, Only Smoke Remains

Firefighting operations at the Jatiwaringin Final Disposal Site (TPA) in Tangerang Regency, Banten, have entered their tenth day. As of now, the area of land that has not yet been extinguished is down to 1.5 hectares. Environment Minister Mohammad Jumhur Hidayat stated that the firefighting process at the Jatiwaringin TPA is still ongoing. According to him, there are no longer any large flames. “The Jatiwaringin TPA is getting better. From 3 hectares yesterday, now only 1.5 hectares remain. It is very technical at this point. Relatively speaking, it is much better now, with only smoke remaining, and it will be finished soon,” Jumhur said when met in Nusa Dua, Badung Regency, Bali, on Thursday (9/7). Jumhur stated that in anticipation of fires at several landfills across Indonesia during the dry season, his ministry has written to all regents and mayors in Indonesia to prepare for such events. Additionally, the ministry is forming a special task force to monitor all landfills in Indonesia to prevent fires like the one at the Jatiwaringin TPA. “We have written to all regents and mayors. They are working hard to ensure this, and we have a task force being formed to monitor one by one the landfills currently facing the hot season. So we will continue to monitor,” he said. For context, the Jatiwaringin TPA fire started on Tuesday (30/6). Entering the ninth day, joint officers were still working on cooling and extinguishing efforts to ensure all hotspots were completely out. Director of Emergency Operations Control Coordination at BNPB, Brigadier General TNI Djohan Darmawan, said that four water bombing helicopters would be deployed to help extinguish hotspots that are difficult to reach by land. “We immediately deployed helicopter support because there are several spots that cannot be extinguished by land. God willing, tomorrow (Wednesday) there will be four more above here,” said Djohan on Tuesday (7/7). He explained that by the eighth day, 50 percent of the burned area had been successfully extinguished. In addition to controlling around half of the fire area, the clearance level of the affected site had also reached about 70 percent.