Four people have died and two others sustained severe burns while fighting a wildfire in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park on Indonesia’s main island of Java, authorities have said.
The victims were part of a 12-member firefighting team comprising national park personnel, community fire brigade members and local volunteers deployed to contain the blaze on Thursday in East Java’s Probolinggo regency.
East Java police spokesperson Jules Abraham Abast said the fire broke out in recent days in the Mentigen and Pusung Lingker areas of the popular national park.
According to Abast, strong winds fuelled the flames, causing the fire to spread rapidly through dry vegetation. At about 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, firefighters positioned outside the danger zone received an emergency call from colleagues who had become trapped by thick smoke and advancing flames.
Rescuers subsequently found three people dead and three others suffering severe burns at an evacuation point. One of the injured victims later died while receiving treatment, bringing the death toll to four.
Two volunteers remained hospitalised with serious burn injuries after being transferred to Dr. Soetomo General Hospital in Surabaya for specialised treatment, while six other members of the team escaped unharmed.
Probolinggo police chief Asmida Rizki Siregar said the remote mountainous location and difficult terrain complicated rescue operations.
She said emergency crews carried the victims on stretchers for approximately two kilometres because the steep terrain prevented vehicles from reaching the scene. The evacuation was completed late Thursday.
Siregar added that authorities had launched an investigation into the incident, including whether negligence or criminal wrongdoing contributed to the deaths. Investigators were gathering evidence and interviewing survivors.
The latest blaze follows a major fire in August that burned nearly nine square kilometres of grassland and vegetation in the park, including protected edelweiss flowers.
The deaths also come as Indonesia intensifies efforts to combat forest and land fires that have worsened during a prolonged dry season, with El Niño contributing to dry conditions. Land clearance through burning and water shortages have further complicated firefighting efforts in parts of Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo.
Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry recorded 799 fire hotspots nationwide as of Thursday evening, more than double the 372 reported a day earlier. More than three-quarters of the hotspots were concentrated in six fire-prone provinces on Sumatra and Borneo.
The rising number of fires has renewed concerns about transboundary haze across Southeast Asia, as smoke from Indonesian fires has affected neighbouring countries and travelled as far as the Philippines.
Malaysia ordered hundreds of schools closed in several states on Friday because of deteriorating air quality, while its Foreign Minister, Mohamad Hasan, called for diplomatic engagement and stronger regional cooperation to address the crisis.
Singapore has also called for closer cooperation, with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong saying authorities were investigating companies allegedly linked to forest and peatland fires in Indonesia and would pursue action under Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act where warranted.
Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry recorded more than 2,020 square kilometres of burned land between January and July. Separately, the independent Nusantara Atlas project estimated that nearly 8,960 square kilometres had burned across the country by the end of August, based on satellite imagery.
Boluwatife Enome
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