Firefighters Admit Difficulties Putting Out Fires Due To Lots Of Glasswool In Shophouses

Firefighters tame the fire that devoured a 4-storey shophouse in Central Jakarta/ Photo: IST

JAKARTA - A shophouse on Jalan Gajah Mada, No. 199, RT 03/04, Glodok Village, Tamansari District, West Jakarta, was burned down. The fire broke out on the 3rd floor and 4th floor of a shophouse owned by PT Thermindo which was in front of LTC Glodok.

"The cause of the fire is suspected to be due to a short circuit in the computer transformer on the 3rd floor. The object that caught fire from 2 floors covering an area of 128 square meters with an estimated loss of 500 million rupiahs," said Head of West Jakarta Gulkarmat Sub-dept. Head Suket when contacted by VOI, Tuesday, September 14.

Suket said the fire was controlled at around 08.56 WIB by deploying 26 fire engines with 130 Gulkarmat personnel.

"The object that burned was only one shophouse on fire, thank God there were no victims. The fire was extinguished at 11.00 WIB, if it was controlled (the fire) was briefly around 09.00 WIB. The process of extinguishing the fire used water," he said.

Until now, police officers are still interviewing a number of witnesses. Meanwhile, Gulkarmat officers had left the fire scene.

"The problem during the blackout was due to the large number of Glasswool or heat absorbers on the 4th floor of the shophouse, so the fire was difficult to extinguish and the smoke continued to billow. That's why the cooling process took a while," he said.

Suket said, according to eyewitness accounts, the fire started from the 3rd floor of the shophouse.

"From the testimony of witnesses, the fire began to be seen on the top 3rd floor. At the time of the incident, the office was just about to start its activities," he said.