Around two hectares of protected forest have burned on the slopes of Mount Batur, including shrubs, tiblun trees and mountain pines. The fire swept through the Seked block of Gunung Batur Nature Park (TWA Gunung Batur) in Batur Selatan village, Kintamani district. No one was injured.
Smoke rising above the vegetation was spotted at around three in the afternoon on Tuesday, 11 August. Residents alerted the Kintamani forest rangers, military and police, and were the first to tackle the flames using whatever was at hand. Forest rangers and military personnel arrived less than an hour later, followed forty minutes later by two Bangli fire crews.
However, their vehicles could not reach the fire because of the steep slope, so the remaining flames were extinguished with backpack fire extinguishers, while firebreaks were cut to prevent the blaze from reaching untouched forest. The fire was fully extinguished by five in the afternoon.
Bangli Regency Police said the preliminary cause was carelessness by tourists or local residents: a discarded cigarette butt that had not been fully extinguished. Hot weather and strong winds helped the fire spread rapidly through the dry undergrowth.
No restrictions for hikers have been reported: the Bali Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) did not announce any trail closures following the fire.
Regency police urged visitors to Batur not to do anything that could start a fire, particularly discarding cigarette butts. The park covers 2075 hectares and is managed by BKSDA.
Lighting fires, smoking on the trail and leaving rubbish are prohibited within the park, with warning signs posted along the hiking route. Under Bali Governor’s Circular No. 7 of 2025, foreigners must visit tourist sites with a licensed guide and follow the rules of each site; the circular also specifically prohibits littering and polluting lakes, springs and rivers.
In late July, Bali Governor demanded an end to all activities damaging and polluting Mount Batur and Lake Batur, and instructed BKSDA and the Bangli authorities to stop the commercialisation of the mountain.
The same park was hit by fire in October 2025: on that occasion, the blaze covered 9.8 hectares and was also blamed on a cigarette butt. Bangli’s dry season will continue until early September. On 5 August, regency legislators called for fire crews and forest rangers to be prepared in advance for fires in Kintamani.
Kintamani does not have its own fire station: crews are dispatched from Bangli, and the journey to the western part of the district takes around an hour, compared with the required response time of 15 minutes. The entire regency has three fire engines and one water tanker.
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