Alleged Short Circuit That Fire Christ Cathedral Church

Illustration (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Christ Cathedral (GBI Basilea) Church in the Paramount Serpong area, Tangerang Regency, was engulfed in the rooster, Monday, April 27. The fire is estimated to have started burning one part of the building at 08.00 WIB.

09.18: A fire broke out at the Christ Chatedral Church (GBI Basilea) in Gading Serpong, Tangerang. There are no firefighters yet. (P. Thomas) #DengerinElshintaDiRumahAja pic.twitter.com/iFh746PlBa

- Radio Elshinta (@RadioElshinta) April 27, 2020

A thick puff of smoke could be seen from a distance. Large flames devoured parts of the largest church in Indonesia. Meanwhile, dozens of firefighters tried to control the raging fire.

Head of the Emergency and Logistics Division at the Tangerang Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Kosrudin said the flames occurred in almost all parts of the building. To overcome the flames, at least involve five teams of fire fighters.

"Maybe there are more than five fleets and dozens of officers in the field. From the District Damkar alone two units, Tangsel and developers have not been assisted," said Kosrudin at the location, Monday, April 27.

The blackout process is quite difficult because of the enormous size of the building. Thus, efforts to blackout were carried out through the main lobby. Approximately two hours passed after the firefighting team struggled, finally the fire was slowly extinguished.

During the cooling process, obstacles were also encountered. So, the officers could not perform bathing until cooling down from the left and right of the building.

"We do not use staircases and we cannot cool down from the side because there are several obstacles," said Kosrudin.

Kosrudin explained that this obstacle made the cooling process to ensure there was no source of fire by focusing on the lower part of the building.

Regarding the source of the flames, Kosrudin said it allegedly came from an electric short circuit on the third floor of the Christ Cathedral, which is a place of prayer. However, this is still an initial hypothesis and needs further investigation to prove it.

"There is still a temporary suspicion that the cause of the electric current is on the 3rd floor of the building," said Kosrudin.

Luckily, there were no fatalities in the fire incident. Because, at the time of the incident, no community or congregation were active in the building. However, there was a security guard who collapsed from inhaling too much smoke.

"There were no casualties. Just because of the thick smoke, a security guard had fainted," said Kosrudin.

However, the flames almost engulfed and damaged all parts of the building. Of the buildings that were previously firmly standing, now only the left and right wings of the building are left. Meanwhile, for the middle part, the rooster was engulfed in red.

"The main room especially, so I think almost all of them. Only the left and right wing, the center is all gone," said Kosrudin.