Fog Hampers Bromo Wildfire Fight, Limits Helicopter Operations

Efforts to extinguish a wildfire in Indonesia's Bromo mountain region were hampered by persistent fog, significantly limiting the effectiveness of aerial water bombing operations. The fog, not smoke from the fire itself, reduced visibility to the point where helicopters had to cease operations.

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This has already been 5 sorties. So a total of 20,000 liters. But around 2 PM, due to fog, not smoke from the fire, but due to fog they had to return to Malang.

Two helicopters, one with a 1,000-liter capacity and another, a larger Super Puma with a 4,000-liter capacity, were deployed. The Super Puma managed five sorties, delivering 20,000 liters of water, but its operations were halted by midday fog. This forced a reliance on ground crews working manually with tools like 'gepyok' (beaters) and fire engines, coordinated by regional disaster management agencies.

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So helicopters cannot operate at night. Meanwhile, at night, we also have to keep pushing back the fire, the fire must be pushed back.

Officials noted that the fire's initial containment was undone by a rapid resurgence, spreading faster than ground teams could manage. This situation underscored the need for helicopter support, even with its operational limitations. The governor of East Java had coordinated the deployment of these helicopters days earlier, aiming to mitigate the fire's expansion.

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So, at night, we know the officers are still working. They are still making efforts to handle it manually using beaters, and there are fire engine units.