Fire in Penjaringan of Jakarta guts tens of houses

The Jakarta Post   |  Tue, 02/10/2009 4:47 PM  |  Jakarta

A fire gutted tens of houses in a densely populated makeshift area in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, at about 03:00 local time in early morning of Tuesday, Antara state news agency reported.

Fire trucks arrived at the location of the fire at about 03:20 am local time to extinguish the fire.

"At least 20 fire trucks are deployed to put out the fire," Maun, an official of the North Jakarta fire brigade, said on the phone here on Tuesday.

According to him, at about 05:30 local time, the fire could be brought under control. However, material losses inflicted by the fire were still unknown.

Two weeks ago, a fire razed the state oil and gas firm Pertamina`s largest fuel depot, while the cause of the fire was still unknown.

People living nearby the depot initially believed there had been an earthquake, but learned the tremor was caused by an explosion at the Plumpang depot.

A number of residents in the area have been evacuated from their homes to safer places.

Flames from the Plumpang fire reached heights of 100 meters and could be seen from 10 kilometers away.

The fire could be brought under control after 12 hours since its explosion, fire official Sukamto said.

In the meantime, Paimin Napitupulu, the head of the city fire department, earlier said forty-seven fires broke out across the city in January, claiming 11 lives and causing Rp 10.6 billion in property damages, the city fire department said Sunday.

"Seventy percent of the total fires occurred in residential areas, while 30 percent were at high-rises," he said.

West Jakarta saw the most fires with 15 cases, followed by South Jakarta, Central Jakarta and North Jakarta with 10, 9 and 8 cases respectively. East Jakarta only saw five cases.

"Most of the fires were caused by short circuits," he said.

Last year, the department recorded 819 fires, killing 14 and causing Rp 228.6 billion in losses.

Paimin warned building managements, especially those of high-rises, to comply with fire safety standards.

"Currently, out of the 1,100 high-rises throughout the city, 10 to 15 percent have failed to equip themselves with proper fire safety systems," he said.

Link: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/02/10/fire-penjaringan-jakarta-guts-tens-houses.html