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Water bombing ends days of forest fires in East Java
The water bombing was stopped on Monday as no more hot spots were detected.
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A helicopter prepared by the West Kalimantan administration is ready to carry out a water bombing operation to anticipate a haze disaster from land and forest fires in the upcoming dry season. (Courtesy of the West Kalimantan Disaster Mitigation Agency/File)
T
he authorities in East Java have deployed an Mi-8 helicopter with a capacity of 4,000 liters to help deal with the fires at R. Soerja Grand Forest Park on Mount Arjuno that have been going on since July 27.
The fires that had spread over some 300 hectares at 3,339 meters above sea level had previously been extinguished manually by a joint team comprising various related institutions.
With a water bombing operation lasting four hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time on Saturday, the chopper that belonged to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) managed to extinguish several fire spots that were difficult to reach manually.
“We stopped at 2 p.m. for security reasons because Mt. Arjuno was already foggy,” East Java Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) acting head Suban Wahyudiono said on the phone over the weekend.
The areas on fire were located on the border of Batu city, Malang regency and Pasuruan regency. The water bombing was continued on Sunday and was stopped on Monday as no more hot spots were detected.
Suban also said his office had received 23 reports from the East Java Forestry Agency from July 22 to 28 about forest fires occurring in Bojonegoro, Madiun, Nganjuk, Bondowoso, Malang and Batu city.
As all were located in easy-to-reach areas, all the fires had been put out. However, to fight the fires in mountainous areas such as those on Mt. Arjuno and Mt. Panderman, water bombing was needed.
