"We have started the cooling down process, and the fire has been extinguished. All personnel and volunteers have returned to their posts," Syarief remarked when contacted via telephone on Tuesday.
He noted that the Probolinggo BPBD Disaster Mitigation Rapid Reaction Team (TRC) along with the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS), East Java BPBD, Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police (Polri), Disaster Preparedness Cadets (Tagana), and volunteers have conducted manual monitoring and cooling in the Mount Bromo area.
"The cooling process uses a traditional tool in the form of a broomstick made from bamboo or wood (gepyok) and watering the land with water tanks to avoid new hotspots," he stated.
According to Syarief, dozens of Probolinggo BPBD personnel assisted joint officers in putting out the forest and land fires on Teletubbies Hill and conducted monitoring to ensure that the fires were completely extinguished.
"The Mount Bromo forest and land fires in the TNBTS area in Probolinggo have cleared or been extinguished. The post at the Sukapura field has also been dismantled," Syarief remarked.
He then reminded visitors and the public to not take actions that could start fires while visiting at the peak of the El Nino phenomenon.
As a result of the forest and land fires, he said the TNBTS Center had completely closed several tourist attractions in the national park area since September 10, 2023, until an undetermined time limit for the extinguishing process.
Apart from closing the TNBTS area, he noted that the fire also blocked road access between Malang-Lumajang-Malang. All tourist access to both Bromo and Ranu Regulo is also closed.
It aimed to support the extinguishing process and pay attention to the safety of people, he remarked.
Related news: Fire from flare on Mount Bromo proving difficult to contain: Ministry
Related news: East Java forest fires: BNPB to deploy more water bombers
Translator: Zumrotun Solichah, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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