Indonesia Steps Up Firefighting As Tangerang Landfill Blaze Enters Eighth Day

JAKARTA, July 7 (NNN) -- Firefighters continue to battle a blaze at the Jatiwaringin Final Disposal Site (TPA) in Indonesia's Banten province as the fire entered its eighth day, with authorities stepping up ground and aerial operations.

National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Emergency Operations Coordination Director Brig Gen Djohan Darmawan said the fire had affected about 14 hectares, doubling from the seven hectares reported on the second day of the fire. About 45 per cent of the affected area had been extinguished by Monday night.

“The fire requires special handling because it resembles a peatland fire, where the flames are not on the surface but continue burning beneath the piles of waste,” he said in a statement, on Tuesday.

The fire broke out on July 1 at the Jatiwaringin Final Disposal Site in Mauk, Tangerang Regency, with the Tangerang Regency Government declaring a disaster emergency that remains in effect through July 14. 

According to local media reports on July 4, 102 residents had been evacuated to temporary shelters due to thick smoke from the burning landfill, while authorities maintained round-the-clock medical teams to monitor potential respiratory illnesses among those affected.

By Monday, Djohan said around 300 personnel, supported by three water-bombing helicopters, 19 fire engines, four water tankers, eight excavators, eight bulldozers and two monitoring drones, had been deployed to accelerate firefighting efforts.

He said ground teams were spraying water to extinguish surface fires while using injection methods to tackle fires beneath the waste piles, as aerial teams continued water-bombing operations from above, with ground operations extended until 10pm local time.

-- NNN-BERNAMA