Wildfires at Indonesia's Ijen Crater tourism park begin to subside

The fires at East Java's Ijen Crater Nature Tourism Park are beginning to subside, especially along the hiking trail. But officials say the threat has not disappeared, with hotspots still burning in hard-to-reach locations.

Banyuwangi Regent Ipuk Fiestiandani said aerial monitoring found smoke in several areas, signaling a risk of renewed fire. The main hotspots include the area around Mount Papak in the Ijen mountain range. Water-bombing helicopters from the East Java Regional Disaster Management Agency continued operations on Tuesday.

The helicopters make an average of 30 water drops a day, carrying 1,000 liters of water per operation from a reservoir operated by PT Medco in the Mount Ijen area. Ground teams are combing the site and cooling areas along the climbing route to prevent embers from reigniting.

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Aerial monitoring shows that there are still hotspots, especially in hard-to-reach locations. Some areas are still emitting smoke, indicating a risk of fire.

The operation also includes support from the Forest and Land Fire Control Center for Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara and the regional forestry and fire department. Teams are mapping the extent of the fire and clearing the trail. Ipuk urged hope that the response would contain the blaze before it spread further across the dry land.

The fire is burning in an uninhabited area. Officials said no buildings in the villages below the mountain have burned, and nearby homes are not threatened.

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Let's pray that this can be handled quickly so the fire doesn't spread further across the dry land in the Ijen Crater area.