Garut surrounded by forest fires on its mountains – ANTARA News
25 October 2019
Published by https://en.antaranews.com
INDONESIA – Garut, W Java (ANTARA) – Forest fires are raging on some mountains surrounding Garut District in West Java Thursday, the district’s Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) said.
Forest fires have been detected in some areas on several mountains in the area, Head of the agency’s Prevention and Preparedness unit Tubagus Agus Sofyan confirmed.
“Garut is surrounded by forest fires on Thursday,” he said.
The forest fires raged on Mount (Mt.) Cikuray in Cilawu Subdistrict, Mt Putri in Tarogong Kaler Subdistrict, on Mt. Guntur, Mt. Karacak, Mt. Haruman, and Mt. Nangkaruka in Pakenjeng Subdistrict. Until 7.00 p.m., the authority had yet to completely extinguish the fire in some locations.
“Some are still on fire,” Tubagus said, adding that BPBD has deployed its personnel at the locations to douse the fires.
However, Tubagus did not elaborate further on the total area that has been gutted, saying that he is still collecting data on it.
Previously, forest fires have gutted Mt. Masigit in Cikajang Subdistrict and Sancang Forest in Cibalong Subdistrict in Garut on late Wednesday (October 23).
“At least three hectares of land in Mt. Masigit have been gutted,” he said.
The fire can be seen clearly at night, a resident, Ningrum said.
“From here I can see the fire on Mt. Guntur, Cikuray, and the one in Cilawu,” she said.
Forest fires in Mt. Cikuray have been occurring since Sunday (October 13).
The Garut BPBD, together with joint officers and the community, made efforts to extinguish the fire with makeshift equipment to stop it from spreading, according to Tubagus.
The source of water in the area was quite far from the origin of the fire and officers found it difficult to extinguish the flames which had already burned down quite a large area at the foot of Mount Cikuray, he said. (INE)
