Adi Purmono, Jakarta – The recovery process for Bromo's ecosystem post the week-long fire from September 6 to 14, 2023, will take up to five years. The head of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS) Constantius Hendro Widjanarko stated that the recovery would take quite a long time before the decimated trees could grow back optimally.

Among the plants burned in the Bromo fire, four are native plants to TNBTS, namely red-tipped ru (Casuarina junghuhniana), broadleaf hopbush (Dodonaea viscosa), green kamala (Mallotus mollissimus), and breadfruit (Arthocarous sp).

"It would take around three to five years for the native plants of TNBTS to recover optimally," Hendro said on Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, grass and shrubs will take little to recover as seen in Teletubbies Hill in Bromo.

Earlier on September 6, a fire broke out in the Teletubbies savanna in Bromo after a visitor fired a flare for a prewedding photo session. The fire spread until almost all savanna, shrubbery, and trees around Mount Bromo were scorched.

TNBTS is still calculating the damage caused by the fire. For the fire breaking out during September 6-10, Hendro said, around 504 hectares of land was burned.

According to Hendro, there are three recovery mechanisms for the Bromo and Semeru area, namely natural recovery, rehabilitation, and restoration. Grass and shrubs could recover themselves without human intervention, while other plants would need to be replanted.

The ecosystem recovery would take around Rp3.5 billion from the total damage estimation of Rp5.4 billion.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1774915/bromo-ecosystem-recovery-will-take-5-years-after-fir