Mount Semeru forest fire suppression uses water bombing helicopters

Firefighting efforts for the forest and land fires on Mount Semeru, located within the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in Lumajang Regency, East Java, are being assisted by water bombing helicopters on Friday.

“Today there is a water bombing helicopter helping to extinguish the forest fire on the slopes of Mount Semeru in areas that cannot be reached by land routes,” said Isnugroho, Chief Executive of the Lumajang Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency.

According to him, the fire hotspots are located in the Ranu Kembang, Ledok Bedor, and Bukit Ayak-ayak blocks and have already spread towards Ranu Kumbolo, so joint personnel are still struggling to extinguish the flames appearing in several blocks of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park area.

“Two helicopters belonging to the East Java Regional Disaster Management Agency have been deployed to extinguish the forest fire by collecting water for water bombing from the Ranu Pani lake area, so it is hoped that the fire hotspots in difficult-to-reach terrain can be extinguished,” he said.

Meanwhile, Agus Kusuma Negara, Head of the National Park Management Section for Region III of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, said that the terrain conditions are one of the biggest challenges for personnel in extinguishing the forest fire on Mount Semeru because the burning area is on slopes with quite steep contours, so not all points can be easily reached by land routes.

“Currently, as can be seen, there is smoke in the Ayak-ayak area. In terms of landscape, there are two fire hotspots, in Ayak-ayak and Pangonan Cilik. Those two are the current firefighting targets,” he said.

Joint personnel are still monitoring and handling several points to prevent the fire from growing again because strong winds and steep terrain make the firefighting process require vigilance and continuous handling.

Information gathered in the field indicates that the area of forest burned in the Mount Semeru area is around 160 hectares, but this figure could increase because the fire had not yet been extinguished as of Friday.