Indonesia Just Closed All of Mount Bromo as a Wildfire Tears Through Its Famous “Sand Sea” Caldera
A fire that started Monday has scorched 176 hectares of the volcano’s caldera, and it’s still spreading. Crews are now dropping water from helicopters to save one of Indonesia’s most visited landscapes.
The fire has burned about 176 hectares (roughly 435 acres) at Mount Bromo since it broke out Monday, nearly triple the 60 hectares it covered on Thursday. The park operator closed all tourist activities Saturday evening for an undetermined stretch, calling it a crucial step to protect visitors, staff and people living nearby.
Anyone who already bought entrance tickets can reschedule or get a refund. East Java’s disaster mitigation agency says it’s deploying water bombing helicopters and water spraying drones to fight the flames. Cloud seeding is being prepared as an additional measure.
Hot spots sit on steep slopes that ground crews can’t reach, and strong winds have been pushing the fire faster. “A number of hot spots are located on the slopes of Bromo, which are steep and difficult for ground-based firefighters to reach. In addition, strong winds in the area have the potential to accelerate the spread of the fire,” National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said last week, when the burn area was still about 60 hectares, roughly 80 soccer fields.
Mount Bromo is an active volcano known for the “sand sea” caldera that surrounds it. Fires are also burning on Sumatra and Borneo this month, where one person died in West Kalimantan’s Ketapang Regency after running out of oxygen escaping the smoke. Authorities haven’t said what started the Bromo fire, and no casualties have been reported there.
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