Prabowo instructs acceleration of Bromo fire suppression

State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi said the central government fully supports accelerating the suppression of fires in the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS) area in East Java. Speaking at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Tuesday, Prasetyo said President Prabowo Subianto had issued instructions to speed up the handling of the fires. “The central government fully supports whatever is needed by the regional government, by BNPB, by colleagues from Manggala Agni at the Ministry of Forestry, by the provincial government, or for example in Bromo by the National Park Office, we fully support it,” he said. Prasetyo also urged the public to avoid activities that could potentially trigger fires amid dry weather conditions. He recalled the 2023 Bromo area fire triggered by the use of flares during a pre-wedding photoshoot at Teletubbies Hill in the TNBTS area. “We have repeatedly conveyed appeals to the entire community to be vigilant, to avoid things that could create the potential for fires, as happened in Bromo-Tengger a few years ago with the pre-wedding event,” he said. Prasetyo also asked the public to increase their awareness of fire potential amid weather conditions he described as dry and influenced by El Niño. “Let us all be vigilant because the El Niño is quite strong and the weather is quite dry,” he said. Regarding weather modification operations, Prasetyo said the government has prepared this option to assist in fire handling. However, he noted that the implementation of such operations depends on atmospheric conditions that allow for the formation of rain. “We have prepared all the designs, but technically, according to the explanation from the Head of BMKG, conditions that allow weather modification operations to produce rain are not always available,” he said. Prasetyo said the government will continue to support the joint team conducting fire suppression in the Bromo area. Based on the latest data from the handling team on Tuesday, the area affected by forest and land fires in the TNBTS area has reached approximately 899.35 hectares, while ground and air suppression operations are still ongoing.