Eighth day of wildfires in Indonesian national park

Indonesian firefighters backed by helicopters and drones battled devastating flames for an eighth day Monday in a national park on Java Island where over 500 hectares have been lost, an official said.

The blaze has forced the closure of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, a popular tourist destination, and razed an area equivalent to more than 700 football fields.

By Monday, "the fire has spread toward residential areas" in the Dingklik Valley area of the park, East Java disaster mitigation agency official Satriyo Nurseno said.

Two water-bombing helicopters, several fire trucks and drones with sprinklers were aiding forest rangers and soldiers deployed to fight the flames, Satriyo added.

Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said on Sunday it would not be possible to fly cloud-seeding missions to trigger rain over the Bromo area for several days given the lack of clouds.

The process involves spraying particles such as silver iodide and salt into clouds from aircraft to produce rainfall.

Flames devoured more than 500 hectares of land on Mount Bromo in 2023, sparked by a couple lighting a flare during a pre-wedding photo shoot.

Indonesia is forecast to experience a long, intense dry season this year with high risk for drought and wildfires due in part to the El Nino weather phenomenon, the weather agency BMKG has said.

El Nino is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon that brings worldwide changes in winds, air pressure and rainfall patterns.

In India and Southeast Asia, it typically causes drier conditions.

The last El Nino helped make 2023 and 2024 the two hottest years globally on record.

In the first half of this year, more than 107,000 hectares of land burnt countrywide -- over twice the area destroyed in wildfires in 2023.