Factory Fire In Ngawi Hanguskan 150 Thousand Pairs Of Shoes

NGAWI - The shoe factory of PT Dwi Prima Sentosa in Karangtengah Prandon Village, Ngawi District, Ngawi Regency, East Java, caught fire in the early hours of Monday until it scorched 150 thousand pairs of shoes and sandals causing billions of rupiah in losses.

Head of the Ngawi Police Criminal Investigation Unit AKP Aris Gunadi said the fire also damaged a warehouse building which was estimated to have lost material reaching Rp50 billion and was the largest fire that had occurred in recent years in the Ngawi area.

"The fire broke out early Monday and the fire was completely extinguished at around 10.30 WIB. The extinguishing process took time because the hydrant was not working and the hotspots were difficult to reach," said Aris Gunadi as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, July 7.

In addition, the warehouse contains materials that are flammable, making the fire quickly enlarge. The contents of the warehouse include rubber, glue, to finished shoes and sandals that are ready to be exported.

A total of seven fire engines (damkar) were deployed to extinguish the fire.

After the fire was successfully extinguished and the temperature of the rest of the building was not hot, the Police put out police lines and processed the crime scene (TKP).

"We will carry out a thorough investigation, including the possibility of negligence," said Aris.

The police will involve the East Java Regional Police Forensic Laboratory Center (Puslabfor) in identifying the exact cause of the fire. In addition, a number of witnesses, including security officers and warehouse staff, will also be questioned in the near future.

Factory security officer Riki Hidayat told reporters that the fire broke out in the factory's warehouse. It is suspected that the hotspots came from an electrical short in the Air Conditioner (AC).

"I smelled the smell of a burning cable. After checking, it turned out that the fire had emerged from one of the air conditioning units and burned the surrounding materials," said Riki Hidayat.

According to him, firefighters had difficulty extinguishing the fire because of the large amount of flammable material in the warehouse.

The fire case is still being handled by the Ngawi Police to determine the cause. Meanwhile, all production activities at the PT Dwi Prima Sentosa Factory had to be completely stopped.