83 Percent of Jakarta Fire Department Applicants Fail the Administrative Process Due to Height or Not Having B1 Driving License

JAKARTA - Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung revealed that 83 percent of applicants for the Jakarta Firefighter (Damkar) recruitment failed the administrative selection process.

"For the Firefighters (Damkar) department, 24,405 people registered yesterday. Of those 24,000, 17 percent met the administrative requirements," Pramono said at the Jakarta International Velodrome, East Jakarta, Tuesday, August 19.

Pramono revealed that the most common reasons applicants failed the administrative selection process for the Jakarta Fire and Rescue Service (Gulkarmat) were not meeting the minimum height requirement and not having a Class B driver's license (SIM B1).

"Many of them don't meet the average height requirement of 165 centimeters. Secondly, many don't have a Class B driver's license," Pramono said.

Furthermore, Pramono also admitted to being surprised that nearly half of the tens of thousands of firefighter applicants were residents outside Jakarta.

"What surprised me personally was that the number of people looking for work outside Jakarta was quite high, over 45 percent," he explained.

Given this situation, employment issues, particularly the high unemployment rate, are not only experienced by Jakarta residents, but also other regions that also hope for jobs in the capital.

"For these 1,000 vacancies, we apologize, but we prioritize Jakarta residents. If Jakarta residents are not met, we will open up opportunities for residents outside Jakarta," said Pramono.

In the firefighter recruitment process, after the administrative selection, verification of registration documents and requirements will be conducted from August 19-22, 2025, with the announcement of the document verification results on August 25.

Applicants who pass the administrative selection will undergo a physical test from August 26 to September 17, 2025.

The physical test will be conducted by the Jakarta Military Command (Kodam Jaya) at the 1st Brigade/Jaya Sakti base in Kalisari, East Jakarta. During this stage, applicants will undergo a physical fitness test (A) (12-minute run), physical fitness test (B) (pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, shuttle run), body posture (height and weight, anatomy, appearance), and 25-meter swimming agility.

The Jakarta Gulkarmat Agency will then announce the 1,000 successful applicants on September 18, 2025, followed by the signing of employment contracts on October 1, 2025.