KLH Urges Residents to Avoid Smoke from Jatiwaringin Landfill Fire

The Ministry of Environment (KLH) has urged residents near the Jatiwaringin landfill in Mauk, Tangerang Regency, Banten, to avoid exposure to smoke from the ongoing fire at the site. The warning comes as air quality has deteriorated sharply, with concentrations of fine particulate matter at the location reaching around 1,000 micrograms per cubic metre, far surpassing the national daily ambient air quality standard of 55 micrograms per cubic metre.

Deputy for Pollution and Environmental Damage Control at KLH, Rasio Ridho Sani, advised the public to use personal protective equipment, including masks, to mitigate health impacts. Data from the ministry’s air quality monitoring station indicated that PM2.5 levels had soared to 1,000 micrograms per cubic metre, while PM10 levels reached 750 micrograms per cubic metre, against a standard of 75.

Rasio noted that the pollutants include sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides, partly due to the combustion of plastic waste, which poses significant health risks. He stated that the air pollution from the landfill fire is more severe than that from forest and land fires, as the burning waste contains biomass, methane gas, and plastics.

He urged residents without urgent business to stay away from the fire site to avoid acute respiratory infections. Meanwhile, Brigadier General TNI Djohan Darmawan, Director of Operations Control Coordination at the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), said efforts to extinguish the fire are being optimised, with two helicopters scheduled to conduct water bombing operations later in the day.

Water bombing operations only began actively yesterday and were limited to one hour, but will now be maximised. In addition to aerial firefighting, BNPB and the Tangerang Regency government are constructing access roads to allow fire engines and hoses to reach the heart of the fire on the waste mountain.