Water Source is Lacking, Fires are Widen in Cikuray Mountain

JBN.CO.ID ■ Forests in the Perum Perhutani Gunung Cikuray area, Garut Regency, West Java, are still burning.

Head of the Prevention and Preparedness Section, Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Garut Regency, Tubagus Agus Sofyan, Monday (10/14/2019) said, forest fires have occurred since Sunday (10/13/2019), and tried to extinguish them until evening. .

"Now it lights up again, the night is gone," Tubagus said by cell phone.

According to him, as Antaranews released, the Garut BPBD ranks together with joint officers and the community made efforts to extinguish the fire with makeshift equipment so as not to continue to expand.

The source of water in the area, he said, was far enough to the point of fire so that the officers found it difficult to extinguish the flames which had already burned quite a large area at the foot of Mount Cikuray.

"The obstacle is that there is no water source, there is also the location of the water far from the hotspot," he said.

Head of the Natural Resources Conservation Section (KSDA) Region V Garut, Purwantono said the location of the fire on Mount Cikuray was quite far from the conservation forest area.

He conveyed, the fire that struck Mount Cikuray since Sunday (10/13/2019) was in a protected forest area which was managed by Perhutani.

"It seems far away, because it does not have direct borders. If Cikuray has the status of a protected forest, then its management is under Perhutani," he said.

Previously, a forest fire on Mount Cikuray was discovered on Sunday afternoon, then a joint officer with the community put out the fire.

Thick smoke caused by fires in the forest can be seen quite clearly from residential areas around urban Garut and Bayongbong District. (Foto: Dok)