Densely Populated Areas Behind Ciplak Market, East Jakarta Almost Caught Fire

Homes are densely populated behind the Ciplak Market in East Jakarta/ Photo; IST

JAKARTA - A number of residents in densely populated areas behind Ciplak Market, Jalan Panca Warga 4, RT 05/03, South Cipinang Besar Village, Jatinegara District suddenly panicked and rushed to save themselves when they saw the flames from one of the houses on Wednesday, September 20, afternoon.

According to one resident's statement, sparks first appeared from one of the residents' houses that were empty by the owner. The house is in a narrow and densely populated alley.

"The house was empty, the owner left, then there was an electric fire in the house," said the resident who was an eye witness to the incident, Wednesday, September 20.

Because the sparks that continued to spread and grew, then the fire was reported to the local RW and forwarded to the firefighters.

After receiving the report, the East Jakarta Gulkarmat Sub-dept. immediately deployed 11 fire engines with 55 personnel. The fire that grew, scorched 4 houses belonging to residents. The fire was extinguished at around 11.26 WIB.

Head of East Jakarta Gulkarmat Sub-dept. Gatot Sulaeman said the initial cause of the fire was an electrical short circuit. The fire then spread and burned 4 residents' houses.

"The loss due to the fire was around 300 million. Meanwhile, the area of the burned area was 200 meters. There were no victims, as many as 35 people were saved," said Gatot, Wednesday, September 20.

Gatot confirmed that the fire at the location of the fire had now been extinguished. Meanwhile, firefighters have also returned to the base.

"The status is green, the blackout is complete," he said.