Indonesia closes Mount Bromo national park as wildfire nearly triples to 176 hectares

Fire progression and park closure

The wildfire at Mount Bromo in East Java province began on Monday and has consumed roughly 176 hectares (435 acres) of land, growing from about 60 hectares (150 acres) on Thursday, officials said. The park operator announced the closure of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park on Saturday evening, barring all visitors until further notice. Park chief Rudijanta Tjahja Nugraha confirmed the indefinite closure. The operator said on its Instagram page that those who have already bought entrance tickets during the closure may seek a refund. Mount Bromo, at 2,329 meters, is an active volcano whose last major eruption was in 2019, and the park received approximately 650,000 visitors in 2025, making it one of Indonesia's most popular tourist destinations.

Firefighting efforts

Indonesia mobilised hundreds of firefighters, disaster management personnel, police, soldiers, park rangers and volunteers on Sunday to contain the blaze. Two water-bombing helicopters and water-spraying drones were deployed alongside ground crews creating firebreaks. National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said in a statement that steep terrain, whipping winds and the fire's location in forested areas on volcanic slopes had made it difficult for firefighters to reach the blaze on foot. The BNPB noted that winds of moderate intensity were blowing on Sunday, a factor that could favour control of some active fire fronts. Teams are monitoring the fire's advance and preparing for possible changes in direction and propagation due to the terrain and wind, Muhari said.

These conditions make air operations crucial to reach areas that cannot be accessed optimally by land.

Broader fire context

The Mount Bromo fire is one of several burning across Indonesia. Authorities say the blaze was sparked during land clearing work. Fires, often illegally started by plantation owners and farmers to clear land for planting, are common in the region. Indonesia's Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) said the country faces an unusually intense, longer and more fire-prone dry season this year, partly due to the El Niño weather pattern, combined with seasonal dry winds from Australia. El Niño is a natural phenomenon recurring every two to seven years, in which surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific warm, causing months-long shifts in global wind, pressure and precipitation patterns. Most models predict an El Niño episode of exceptional scale this year, potentially the strongest ever recorded, occurring against the backdrop of human-caused global warming.

National toll and historical comparison

More than 107,000 hectares of Indonesian land burned in the first half of 2026, more than twice the area destroyed in wildfires in 2023. Indonesia recorded 546 forest fires last year, while 375 have been counted from January to August this year, according to BNPB data. In 2023, a fire on Mount Bromo destroyed 500 hectares after a couple lit a flare during a pre-wedding photo shoot. No casualties or property damage have been reported in the current blaze.