"We Are Obliged To Know That The DKI Fire Department Is Far From Ideals"

Photo by Michael Soto on Unsplash

JAKARTA - We must know the condition of the fire department (damkar) in DKI Jakarta. Until this news was revealed, in fact there had been no fire stations in each regional village.

Perhaps this is what makes it happen when there is a fire incident, the response to handling does not meet the ideal standards.

"Currently we are still not meeting that standard and we have only 139 fire stations that should be in 267 urban villages," said Head of DKI Jakarta Fire and Rescue (Gulkarmat), Satriadi, quoted from Antara, Monday, January 30.

Other problems also arise. If all the posts are met, the number of personnel needed is too much compared to the current one.

Satriadi said, to realize damkar posts in all urban villages, there must be an additional personnel to 10-11 thousand people. The current condition is as many as 4000 officers. "That's why we continue to work on how to fulfill the'respond time' by building posts in collaboration with various parties, including the private sector by making agreements to get down in case of an emergency," he said.

He admitted that the current budget condition could not carry out the establishment of fire stations in each village.

He gave an example this year's budget of IDR 1.3 trillion. About 52 percent have been spent on personnel spending, beyond routine costs for fuel, electricity, water and routine maintenance of vehicles, as well as postal operations.

Meanwhile, the remaining budget, added Satriadi, is focused on the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) for firefighters and also community resilience against fire hazards such as the formation of fire volunteers and independent hydrants.

"So, this year our concentration is related to PPE for'rescue' firefighters. Then the community's resilience is related to fire prevention," said Satriadi.