Four men have been killed battling wildfires in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park on Indonesia’s Java island, the forestry ministry said Friday, as the country struggles with a months-long wildfire crisis that has blanketed parts of the region in toxic smoke.
The men were overwhelmed by flames Thursday in the park in East Java, according to a ministry statement that provided no further details about the victims.
Two of the men killed were national park officers, while the other two were security guards assisting them, park spokesman Endrip Wahyutama said.
They were trapped by flames and thick smoke. Three died at the scene, while the fourth died later in a hospital, Endrip said.
A volunteer firefighter and a security guard from a nearby hotel who also joined the rescue effort were receiving medical treatment, he said.
The ministry said the incident underscored the risks of firefighting operations.
“This incident serves as a reminder that forest and land fire extinguishing is a high-risk operation,” the ministry said.
The ministry reported a sharp increase in satellite-detected hotspots, which indicate areas of unusually high temperatures but do not necessarily correspond to individual fires.
By Thursday evening, the number of hotspots nationwide had risen to 799, up from 372 a day earlier.
Most were detected in Central Kalimantan, a province on Borneo island, which Indonesia shares with Malaysia and Brunei, followed by southern Sumatra.
“Central Kalimantan recorded the largest increase (in hotspots), so field operations are being strengthened,” the ministry said.
The ministry also expressed concern about fires near Tanjung Puting National Park, an important habitat for endangered orangutans.
Water-bombing and cloud-seeding operations intended to induce rainfall have been hampered by poor visibility caused by smoke from the fires, it added.
Several locations in Sumatra and Kalimantan were experiencing “unhealthy to very unhealthy conditions, even locally hazardous” because of the haze, the ministry said. The smoke had turned the sky orange in some areas.
“If air conditions worsen, people are advised to reduce outdoor activities and wear masks when outside,” the ministry said.
