Boyolali, en.SERU.co.id – Two helicopters belonging to the Indonesian Army (TNI AD) have been deployed to assist in extinguishing a forest fire on the slopes of Mount Lawu, Karanganyar Regency, Central Java. As of Tuesday, October 20, 2026, the burned land area is estimated to have reached 200 hectares.
The two helicopters deployed are a Super Puma and an Mi-17 from the Army Aviation Center (Puspenerbad). The aerial extinguishing operation or water bombing entered its second day on Tuesday.
Commander of Adi Soemarmo Air Force Base, Air First Marshal TNI Henri Ahmad Badawi, said the aerial operation will continue to be maximized to suppress the spread of fire points that are still developing.
“This is the second day of the aerial operation in the framework of handling the forest fire disaster on the slopes of Mount Lawu. Currently the area that has been able to be covered or where water bombing has been carried out is already quite extensive,” said Henri when met at the hangar of Adi Soemarmo Air Force Base, Boyolali, on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.
Each helicopter has a water-carrying capacity of around 2,000 to 2,500 liters in one filling. On the first day of the operation, each helicopter had carried out two flight sorties to drop water onto the fire area.
For Tuesday, the TNI targeted two flight sorties using the Super Puma and two sorties using the Mi-17. That number will be maximized according to weather conditions and flight safety.
Henri explained that the extinguishing process faces a number of obstacles, especially the steep conditions of the Mount Lawu slopes, strong winds, as well as rapid weather changes. In addition, the spread of the fire tends to move upward following the mountain slope so that it makes helicopter maneuvers difficult.
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The vegetation condition dominated by pine trees also makes the fire easy to spread when blown by the wind.
“With the height of the mountain which currently reaches 10,000 feet, that creates quite difficult obstacles for us to carry out extinguishing at the peak,” he said.
To help control the spread of the fire, the aerial operation is carried out together with officers on the ground. Firebreak efforts are also carried out by making trenches so that the movement of the fire can be limited and the area that must be extinguished from the air does not expand further.
Henri affirmed that the operation would continue to be carried out while considering field conditions and the safety of the aircraft crew. His side hopes that intensive extinguishing efforts in the next few days can suppress the number of fire points.
“We hope that with water bombing every day, we can reduce the fire points and we strive to be able to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible,” he said. (wbn/yul/mzm)
