Gulkarmat Officer Calls Sparks From Electric Poles Caused Fire In The Empty Garden

Residents' house fire in Gang Swadaya, Kemayoran, Central Jakarta/Antara

JAKARTA - The fire that hit a densely populated residential area on Jalan Kemayoran Gempol RT 14 RW 05, Kebon Blank Village, Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, left only ashes from 70 local residents' houses. As a result of the fire, as many as 300 people from 100 families (KK) were forced to take refuge in the evacuation posts that had been prepared.

Head of the Central Jakarta Fire and Rescue (Gulkarmat) Sub-dept., Asril Rizal, said that the cause of the fire was suspected to be an electrical short circuit.

"The information is that the electricity poles emitted sparks that hit people's homes," he said when contacted by VOI, Monday, August 30.

Asril Rizal said that his party received news of a fire on Sunday, August 29 at around 18.15 WIB. His party deployed 21 units of fire engines and 84 firefighters. The fire was extinguished until Sunday night. However, 70 houses have been destroyed by fire.

Furthermore, the residents of the Kebon Blank fire victims were taken to the evacuation post at SDN 09 which is not far from the location. The local government also continues to provide food assistance to the victims.

"We accommodate at SDN 09, the victims are mostly natives of Kebon Blank, Kemayoran," he said when contacted by VOI, Monday, August 30.

Asep said that assistance for residents whose houses burned down began to arrive from related agencies, one of which was the Central Jakarta Social Service Sub-dept.

"We also ask to continue to obey the health protocols (prokes) because this is still a COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

Separately, the Head of the Central Jakarta Social Service Sub-dept., Ngapuli Parangin, said that the distribution of aid had been directly distributed since last night. The assistance includes men's underwear, blankets, biscuits, sanitary napkins, mattresses, towels, women's underwear, mukena, sarongs, pampers and mineral water.

"This morning we gave ready-to-eat food. We prepared food according to the needs of the fire victims," he said.