Bromo Wildfire Caused by Pre-Wedding Photoshoot Finally Extinguished; How Much Land Was Affected?

A forest and land fire (karhutla) in the Savanna Valley, also known as the Teletubbies Hill, on Mount Bromo in East Java, caused by a flare during a pre-wedding photoshoot, was finally extinguished after six days of efforts by officials.

The Malang Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) estimates that at least 500 hectares of land in the Mount Bromo tourist area were affected by the fire.

However, this figure is a preliminary visual estimate by the BPBD, and the actual burned area could be larger.

"The (affected land area) hasn't been precisely mapped. The visual estimate is approximately 500 hectares," said Sadono Irawan, Head of Emergency and Logistics at the Malang Regency BPBD, as reported by CNN Indonesia on Tuesday (12/9/2023).

Sadono added that two remaining hotspots were still being extinguished. "There are hotspots in Watangan and Keciri. Two points (but) they are already getting smaller," he said.

The fire on Teletubbies Hill, Mount Bromo, which started on Wednesday (6/9/2023), caused the temporary closure of Mount Bromo and surrounding tourist areas.

Previously, Probolinggo Police Chief AKBP Wisnu Wardana stated that the fire occurred during the daytime when six visitors were having a pre-wedding photoshoot on Teletubbies Hill. According to Wisnu, they used flares for the photos.

Wisnu detailed that five flares were used during the pre-wedding photoshoot. However, one failed to ignite.

"During the photoshoot, four flares were successfully ignited, while one failed. The one that failed was lit again, then it sputtered. And that sputtering caused the 50-hectare savanna to burn," said Wisnu, as reported by Kompas.com on Thursday (7/9/2023).

The Probolinggo Police have named one suspect in connection with the incident. He is AW (41), a wedding organizer manager from Lumajang.

The suspect was named after authorities found two pieces of evidence. Furthermore, the suspect apparently did not have a Conservation Area Entry Permit (Simaksi).

AW is charged under Article 50 paragraph 3 letter D in conjunction with Article 78 paragraph 4 of Law Number 41 of 1999 concerning Forestry as amended in Article 50 paragraph 2 letter b in conjunction with Article 78 paragraph 5 of Law Number 6 of 2023 concerning the enactment of the Government Regulation replacing Law RI Number 2 of 2022 concerning Job Creation into Law and/or Article 188 of the Criminal Code.