Semeru Land Fires Reach 598 Hectares, BPBD Reveals Extinguishing Obstacles

Forest and land fires (karhutla) in East Java have left only one active point remaining in the Mount Semeru area. The fires in the Mount Semeru region have burnt 598 hectares of land and natural vegetation.

“As of this afternoon, wildfires are still occurring in Semeru. Meanwhile, those in Ponorogo, Mount Arjuno-Welirang, and Mount Wilis have been extinguished,” said the Head of the East Java BPBD, Gatot Soebroto, in Surabaya on Wednesday (2/9/2026).

Gatot revealed that according to the Sipong application, there are currently 91 hotspots identified across East Java. However, these hotspots do not necessarily indicate active wildfires.

“Based on the Sipong application, satellites monitoring hotspots in East Java today show 91 points. But these hotspots are not necessarily land fires; they could originate from factories, heat from post-harvest land clearing, or waste processing,” he explained.

Gatot noted that the Semeru wildfires are extremely difficult to extinguish via land routes because the paths leading to the fire points are steep and inaccessible without helicopters.

“The fire points in Semeru are far from the roads; the locations are on very steep cliffs. Fortunately, we have requested helicopters from the BNPB that were previously on standby in East Java and had moved to Lampung for firefighting in Sumatra. Therefore, by tomorrow morning, they can be stationed at Abd Saleh Airport to conduct water bombing at Semeru,” he added.