"The fire broke out on Saturday and was finally extinguished by 5.30 am local time on Monday", said Juni Junaidi of the Temanggung forestry office.

A similar fire had broken out on August 20 this year on the same mountain and had destroyed vegetation over a 15 hectare area.

"We have not counted the material losses due to the fire. However, the loss of every hectare of vegetation has cost us Rp 3,750,000 and every hectare of weeds destroyed would have lost us Rp 150,000," he said.

Forest and land fires are generally caused by human behaviour but natural factors, such as global climate change, influence fire intensity. Fires in forest areas are caused by encroachment and illegal logging. Meanwhile, land fires are caused while clearing patches for agricultural and plantation land.

Pewarta : Heru Suyitno
Editor : D.Dj. Kliwantoro
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