Forest and land fires on Mount Arjuna reach 4,000 hectares, suspected to be the work of poachers

TIME.CO, Malang – Forest and land fires o Forest and land fires it’s still happening Mount Arjuna. The fire also spread to the forest and landed on Mount Welirang.

As a result, more than 4 thousand hectares of forests and land were burned. Most of the burned forests and lands were within the working area of ​​the Technical Implementation Unit of Raden Soerjo Grand Forest Park (Tahura), East Java Provincial Forest Service.

Tahura Raden Soerjo is a protected natural area covering an area of ​​27,868 hectares located within the Arjuno-Welirang-Anjasmoro mountain complex. Administratively, Tahura Raden Soerjo area is part of Mojokerto Regency, Malang Regency, Pasuruan Regency, Jombang Regency and Batu City.

Of all the work areas in Tahura Raden Soerjo, only the Jombang area was least affected by the fire compared to the other four areas. The tourist area of ​​the city of Batu was among the hardest hit.

Batu City Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Chief Executive Officer Agung Sedayu said the fire burned about 907 hectares of forest and land in four villages in Bumiaji District, namely Bulukerto, Sumbergondo, Tulungrejo and Sumberbrantas.

The Batu City Government then implemented a State of Emergency Response through the Decree on the State of Emergency Response for the Mount Arjuno Forest Fire Disaster in Batu City Area number 188.45/269/KEP/ 422.012/2023, signed by Acting Mayor of Batu Aries Agung Paewa.

“We, together with other related elements, have made a series of efforts to extinguish the fire both by land and air. We extinguish it by air by bombing water or water bombardment from the helicopter to the fire site,” Agung Sedayu said Time Thursday evening, September 7, 2023.

Batu Town BPBD deployed a joint team of around 351 people to extinguish the fire by land, via Brakseng climbing route in Sumberbrantas village (63 people) and Pura Luhur Giri Arjuno temple route in Sumberbrantas village Tulungrejo (6 people).

Announcement

All staff undergo health checks before departure. They came from Batu City BPBD, Tahura officer Raden Soerjo, TNI/Polri members, Perum Perhutani, volunteers and other community elements. The joint team is actively coordinating with the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the BPBD of East Java Province at the Mount Arjuna Forestry and Forestry Emergency Management Post in Pendapa Kaliandra, Dayurejo Village, Prigen District, Regency of Pasuruan.

Gatot Soebroto, CEO of BPBD East Java, said the forest and land burned since Aug. 26 totaled about 4,403 hectares. Strong winds accelerate the spread of fires, and extreme terrains make them difficult to extinguish.

Aerial firefighting was also carried out using helicopters. One helicopter is currently available and another will be added to speed up firefighting in hard-to-reach areas.

Forest and land fires on Mount Arjuna and its surroundings were first observed in Bukit Budug Asu area, Toyomarto village, Singosari district, Malang regency, Saturday night, August 26, 2023. The fire then spread to Pasuruan, Mojokerjo and Batu. Urban areas.

The fires were allegedly caused by trappers setting fire to land and forests to cull game. The fire spread quickly because much of the vegetation dried out during the long dry season, including remnants of previous fires, and its spread was accelerated by strong winds.

The fires have damaged the ecosystem and biodiversity of Mount Arjuna (3,339 meters above sea level), the second highest mountain in East Java province after Mount Semeru. In addition to the environmental damage, many flora and fauna have died, the fires have taken away economic income from the tourist climbing activities on Mount Arjuna which have been temporarily closed.

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