5 Shophouses In Pondok Bambu Burnt, Allegedly Electric Short Circuit

JAKARTA - A total of five shophouses located on Jalan Pahlawan Revolution Pondok Bambu, Duren Sawit District, East Jakarta, were burned to the ground on Wednesday, March 22, noon.

The fire was allegedly caused by an electrical short and then spread to other buildings.

"The object that caught fire was a shophouse in the Pondok Bambu area. The area of the object that was burned was about 200 square meters with an estimated loss of Rp. 500 million," said Head of East Jakarta Gulkarmat Sub-dept., Gatot Sulaeman, Wednesday, March 22.

A total of 9 fire engines were dispatched to the location. Meanwhile, 40 firefighters were also deployed to carry out the fire extinguishing process.

"The fire was successfully localized at 14:48 WIB, and the cooling process was at 15.15 WIB. Currently, the cooling process is still ongoing," he said.

From the results of the officers' data collection, the fire incident was allegedly caused by sparks from the damage to the power lines.

"The cause of the fire was an electrical short. Then the power cable fell on a gas station and spread to a furniture workshop," he said.

Luckily there were no casualties as a result of this fire incident. As many as 20 shophouse occupants were also successfully evacuated by officers.