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uthorities have closed all hiking trails leading up to the peaks of Mount Sindoro, Mt. Sumbing and Mt. Lawu in Central Java on account of land and forest fires that have ravaged the three areas over the last few days.

Although it has been some time since the fires started, officials have not been able to put out the blazes on Mt. Sindoro and Mt. Sumbing, located on the border of Temanggung and Wonosobo regencies, owing to strong winds, dry weather and challenging terrain.

“The strong winds pose greater danger to these officials,” acting Wonosobo Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Prayitno said on Thursday.

Authorities said the fire on Mt. Sumbing had started on Monday in the Kecepit forest resort, which is located in Gelapansari village, Bulu district, Temanggung.

Meanwhile, a fire was reported on Saturday on the nearby Mt. Sindoro. The fire reportedly started in the Kwadungan forest resort in Canggal village, Candiroto district, Temanggung, and had since spread to the nearby Sigedang forest resort.

Central Java BPBD executive head Sarwa Pramana had also instructed his subordinates in Temanggung, Wonosobo and Magelang to reach out to pawang hujan (rain shamans) to call for rain and help extinguish the fire that burned through Mt. Sindoro-Sumbing, kompas.com reported.

In the meantime, the fire that burned forests on Mt. Lawu was contained by officials on Tuesday.

The blaze on Mt. Lawu is believed to have been started by a hiker who made a bonfire in the Candi Cetho area in Karanganyar regency. Strong winds then caused the fire spread to the other parts of the forest located in Magetan and Ngawi regencies.