30 Houses In South Sumatra Fisherman's Village Burnt Out, The Source Of The Fire Is Suspected From A Gas Stove Selling Fried Food

SUMSEL - A massive fire destroyed dozens of houses in the Fisherman's Village, Sungsang 1 Village, Banyuasin II District, Banyuasin, South Sumatra (Sumsel), on Saturday, April 2.

The Head of Banyuasin II Sub-district, Salinan, said that while his party had recorded that more than 30 houses of residents there were burned to the ground almost to the ground in the fire.

In addition, the sub-district and residents also noted that several infrastructures such as small connecting bridges, swallow nest buildings and other public facilities were also damaged.

Salinan explained in his report that the fire was suspected to have started from a gas stove at one of the places selling fried food that grabbed a jerry can containing fuel oil (BBM), on Saturday evening at around 18.45 WIB.

Residents who saw the incident tried to extinguish the fire in the jerry cans. But unfortunately, the jerrycan was pushed until the contents of the fuel spilled onto the road and the fire grew bigger and grabbed another resident's house.

"Nevertheless, the information on the cause of the fire has yet to be confirmed because it is still being investigated further by the Sungsang Sector Police (Polsek) and the Banyuasin Police," he said in a written report in Sungsang, Antara, Sunday, April 3.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Sungsang Police, Iptu Bambang Wiyono, said that his party was still investigating the cause of the fire and was also trying to help the community to clean up the fire debris together with TNI, village and sub-district officials.

According to him, the fire had only been extinguished three hours from the start of the incident or around 21.00 WIB. The fire was carried out in mutual cooperation with local residents armed with simple equipment.

The incident resulted in around 26 heads of families (KK) losing their homes who had temporarily been evacuated to shelter posts or to relatives' homes, as many as two people were injured and received medical treatment and recorded a loss value estimated at Rp3.5 billion.