Four Residents' Houses In West Aceh Burnt

JAKARTA - Four housing units in Aceh Barat Daya and Aceh Besar districts of Aceh province were burned to the ground in the last two days, according to the Aceh Disaster Management Agency (BPBA).

BPBA Chief Executive Ilyas said one unit of the burnt house was in Teladan Jaya Village, Babahrot District, Southwest Aceh, at around 12.00 WIB on Thursday, June 17. Meanwhile, three other housing units caught fire on Wednesday, June 16 in Aceh Besar.

“One unit of the house that caught fire belongs to Samsudin (35). As a result, the house was severely damaged, so that temporarily four people in one household have to evacuate," said Ilyas in Banda Aceh, as reported by Antara, Thursday, June 17.

When receiving information on the fire, he said, Southwest Aceh BPBD officers immediately went to the scene to put out the fire, by deploying a fire brigade unit, assisted by the local community.

"The fire has been successfully extinguished at 13:00 WIB and is currently in the cooling process," said Ilyas.

His party could not confirm the cause of the fire at the house of the Southwest Aceh resident. Currently, he continued, the chronology of the incident is still under investigation by the competent authorities.

"The latest information we received is that the Aceh Barat Daya District Government has provided assistance during the panic period, conducted data collection and reporting after the fire incident," he said.

Meanwhile, the three houses that burned on Wednesday yesterday, said Ilyas, were in Tungkop Village, Darussalam District, Aceh Besar. As a result, the three wooden houses were burned to the ground.

The three rented houses that caught fire belonged to M Yusuf Ibrahim (53), resulting in 11 affected victims in three families having to flee to their relatives' houses.

“The fire occurred at around 18.26 WIB. And the temporary suspicion is that the fire was from a gas stove," said Ilyas.

Meanwhile, BMKG Class I Data and Information Coordinator Sultan Iskandar Muda Zakaria Ahmad reminded that Aceh is now entering the dry season with air temperatures reaching 34 degrees Celsius, so residents are asked to be aware of potential residential and forest and land fires.

"Yes, indeed, we estimate that Aceh has entered the dry season and has also entered the west wind, so we need to be aware of fires, especially land fires," said Zakaria in Aceh Besar.