485 Houses In Penjaringan Dilap Api, PSI Says Jakarta Is Not Ready To Prevent Fire

Polda Metro Jaya has deployed personnel to help evacuate fire victims that hit a densely populated area in Kapuk Muara, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, Saturday (7/6/2025). (ANTARA/HO-Polda Metro Jaya)

JAKARTA - Member of the PSI faction of the DKI Jakarta DPRD Kevin Wu assessed that Jakarta was not ready to try to prevent fires. This reflects on the fire case in Penjaringan, North Jakarta which scorched around 485 houses on Friday, June 6.

The fire in densely populated settlements is still a scourge. This shows that Jakarta has not succeeded in taking good preventive steps to prevent such incidents from occurring," Kevin told reporters, Monday, June 9.

If the DKI Provincial Government does not immediately take strategic steps in evaluating the mitigation of fire management in Jakarta, he is worried that more safety for Jakarta residents will be threatened.

According to him, this is becoming increasingly urgent to do following the fire that occurred not only in Kapuk Muara, but also Vihara Lalitavistara Cilincing and a wax factory in Tamansari, West Jakarta (Jakbar) in the near future.

"In response to this, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government must evaluate and strengthen the fire prevention system in all places," said Kevin.

The evaluation became increasingly urgent because of the fire in different places at a short time. The day before there was a wax factory that caught fire in West Jakarta. Then just last night, another fire broke out in a temple located in Jakut. In short, Jakarta again experienced a fire emergency," he added.

On the one hand, Kevin also mentioned the lack of fire stations (damkar). Of the 267 urban villages in Jakarta, only about 180 urban villages have fire stations. Kevin also urged the acceleration of the placement of light fire extinguishers (APAR) in each RT-RW to make the handling of bus fire more effective.

Fire stations must be added, especially in sub-districts that do not have them. Then, the discourse of holding APAR in each RT must be carried out immediately. This allows residents to move even faster to extinguish the fire from the source before spreading to other settlements around him," he added.

For information, last Friday at around 12.18 WIB, 485 in Kapuk Muara Village, Penjaringan District, North Jakarta (Jakut) caught fire.

In the process of extinguishing the fire and rescue (Gulkarmat) service deployed 30 fire engines and 150 personnel. The fire only managed to extinguish after 13 hours. The blackout ended on Saturday, 00.16 WIB.

The fire, which started with one of the semi-permanent buildings, had an impact on 800 families or 3,200 people, of which around 1,900 people were displaced.