Wildfire extinguished near Toraja’s traditional stone burial sites

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4 hours ago

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Countermeasures (BNPB) said wildfires that affected traditional stone burial sites in North Toraja District, South Sulawesi, has been fully extinguished.

“The fire broke out on October 24 and was extinguished within roughly 16 hours,” Acting Head of BNPB’s Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Center Berton SP Panjaitan told an online press conference here on Wednesday.

Panjaitan said the blaze burned approximately seven hectares of land in two villages, locally known as lembang: Rangri and Ratte. The affected area included terrain encompassing traditional Torajan stone graves.

He noted that local authorities are still assessing the condition of the cultural heritage sites following the fire.

The Toraja highlands are globally known for their indigenous funerary traditions, where ancestral tombs, crypts, and burial chambers are carved directly into massive stone cliffs.

Turning to the broader national wildfire situation, Panjaitan emphasized that BNPB remains on high alert, stationing emergency personnel across fire-prone peatland and forest regions on Sumatra and Kalimantan to detect and contain emerging hotspots.

“We continue to keep personnel and equipment on standby across districts and cities where fires have been detected,” he said.

According to BNPB records, active ground deployments include 16,387 personnel in Central Kalimantan, 14,458 in West Kalimantan, 12,287 in South Sumatra, and 7,927 in South Kalimantan.

In addition to ground crews, firefighting gears remain deployed under the coordination of Regional Agency for Disaster Countermeasures (BPBDs), regional administrations, as well as joint task forces on district and city level.