Tank Fire At Pertamina Refinery Cilacap Police Check CCTV, Find Two Lightning Flashes

CILACAP - Central Java Regional Police (Polda Jateng) examined six witnesses related to the fire of Tank 36 T-102 in the area of PT Refinery Pertamina Internasional (KPI) Unit Cilacap.

"Of the six witnesses, five of them are external parties," said Central Java Police Chief Inspector General of Police Ahmad Lutfhi during a press conference, at the Patra Graha Building, Cilacap, as reported by Antara, Monday, November 15.

According to him, the five external witnesses confirmed that on Saturday night, November 13, when the fire broke out, it was raining with lightning in the vicinity of the incident.

He said this was reinforced by witness testimony from the BMKG Meteorological Station of Tunggul Wulung Cilacap which stated that on the D day there were two lightning points with a distance of 45 kilometers and 12 kilometers.

"This will later be strengthened by information from experts about how the lightning conditions can cause induction which results in flashes of light," said the Kapolda.

In addition to witnesses, he said, his party has also examined video recordings from seven monitoring cameras (CCTV), two of which show that at 19.10 WIB there was a flash of lightning followed by a fire.

Based on the testimony of witnesses from the BMKG and internal Pertamina, he said, his party suspected that the fire in Tank 36 T-102 was caused by an induction due to a lightning strike.

"There is no negligence or sabotage in this incident," said the Kapolda asserted.

Head of BMKG Meteorological Station Tunggul Wulung Cilacap Taruna Mona Rachman said from the lightning detection tool at BMKG Geophysics Station Banjarnegara obtained an analysis that on Saturday, November 13 at 18.00 WIB to 19.30 WIB, there were two lightning strikes.

According to him, the first lightning strike occurred at 18:47 WIB, while the second occurred at 19:23 WIB.

"The closest lightning strike to the refinery area occurred at 18.47 WIB in the 27th second," he explained.

Area Manager of Communication, Relations and CSR of PT KPI Cilacap Unit Cecep Supriyatna said Pertamina openly supports and respects the process of investigation and investigation carried out by the authorities.

"We are certainly ready to assist the authorities in this process to completion by providing the necessary information and data. To ascertain the cause of the incident, we will wait for the results of the investigation," he said.

As reported, the fire in Tank 36 T-102 that occurred on Saturday, November 13 at 19.10 WIB, was successfully extinguished at 23.05 WIB by deploying a High Capacity Foam Monitor, while the surrounding tanks were also cooled with water sprinklers to prevent it from spreading. fire.

However, the foam that isolated Tank 36 T-102 was opened, causing another fire to occur. After optimal efforts were made, the fire in the tank containing the Pertalite component was successfully extinguished on Sunday, November 14 at 07.45 WIB, and was declared safe at 09.15 WIB.