Since learning that 2026 was expected to bring an extremely dry season, my reforestation team at ASRI and I made forest fire mitigation one of our top priorities in every reforestation area. Since February 2026, we have been maintaining firebreaks, ensuring that water reservoirs are available, and conducting fire patrols along the areas outside the National Park. We did all of this to reduce the risk of forest fires, with locations close to roads and settlements being our greatest concern.  Then, on the afternoon of August 3, the news of a forest fire reached us. I immediately contacted the National Park Office because the fire was suspected to be located deep inside the area.

By the afternoon of August 4, we worked together to put out the fire, which had already spread rapidly and burned a large area. The remote location and difficult terrain made it impossible to respond as quickly as we would have wanted. Moreover, because the fire occurred within the National Park, every action we took had to be carefully coordinated with the national park office.  The challenge of fighting the fire was enormous. The nearest river was approximately 250 meters away, while our main firefighting equipment was extremely limited.

We initially had to rely on the equipment available in the Gunung Palung National Park Office, and later received support from the Manggala Agni firefighting team. The necessary firefighting equipment is very expensive, which means ASRI has not yet been able to acquire adequate equipment of its own. For now, we can only rely on basic firefighting tools, which are effective only when a fire is still small and manageable. 

It was heartbreaking to watch the forest we had worked so hard to protect go up in flames. What made it even more painful was knowing that part of the burned area is approximately 20 hectares, the area had been reforested between 2022 and 2025. I could see trees that we had planted and cared for, which had finally begun to grow and establish themselves, being consumed by the fire. Standing there and watching them burn, I could not help but feel that all the time, effort, and hope we had invested had suddenly been reduced to ashes.  I felt even more devastated because there is strong suspicion that the fire was caused by human negligence, by people carrying out illegal activities inside the National Park or even worse that the area may have been deliberately burned to create grassland that could later be used for illegal grazing and hunting. 

What hurts most is realizing that there are still gaps in the protection of the National Park, and that these gaps can be exploited by people who have little concern for the future of the forest. I have already tried to discuss this issue with the park management, because I believe that protecting the forest requires not only responding to fires when they occur, but also addressing the underlying threats that make these fires possible in the first place. 

For now, and for some time to come, we remain on high alert for forest fires, at least until the dry season is over. During this period, we need support from many different parties, especially because there is more than one reforestation site that we must continue to protect from the threat of fire.  We will continue to do everything we can. And more than anything, I sincerely hope that the area that has just burned will be the last one.  Together with the ASRI team, I will continue working to strengthen our capacity, not only to prevent and mitigate forest fires but also to respond more effectively when fires do occur. 

We have learned difficult lessons from this incident, but I hope those lessons will help us protect the forest better in the future.  It is painful to see years of restoration disappear in a matter of hours. But we cannot allow that loss to become the end of our efforts. We have to keep going, keep protecting, and keep restoring.