A land fire that struck the Mount Guntur Nature Reserve area in Tarogong Kaler District, Garut Regency, West Java, has been confirmed to be quickly brought under control. The West Java Natural Resources Conservation Center (BBKSDA) stated that the flames only burned about 0.49 hectares of dry weeds and did not spread to forest tree vegetation.
Head of Conservation Section Region V Garut BBKSDA West Java, Vitriana Yulalita, revealed that the readiness of joint personnel and the active assistance of the local community were key to this rapid response. Relatively easy road access facilitated the manual extinguishing process using portable sprayers.
Vitriana explained that following the fire fighting operations which took one day, her team continues to conduct intensive monitoring at the site. This measure is taken to anticipate hidden embers that could potentially trigger follow-up fires during the dry season.
This incident is recorded as the first forest and land fire (karhutla) event in the Garut nature reserve area since entering this year's dry season. West Java BBKSDA is now increasing vigilance in several other fire-prone forest points in Garut, including the Kamojang area and Mount Papandayan.
As a long-term mitigation measure, BBKSDA together with the local Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) has alerted the Forest and Land Fire Post (Balai Karhutla). In addition to routine patrols, education and public outreach continue to be intensified, considering that the majority of forest fires are triggered by human negligence.
