Extinguishers to be provided citywide
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta administration will provide fire extinguishers for all neighborhood units, community units and subdistrict offices to help fight fires in densely populated areas that fire trucks have difficulty accessing.
"We are set to provide fire extinguishers down to the smallest neighborhood unit, which are in dire need of fire extinguishers because fire trucks have difficulty accessing the narrow alleys to put out fires.
"Hopefully, locals will be able to stop fires from spreading before the firefighters arrive," Governor Sutiyoso said at City Hall after attending a presentation by the Jakarta Fire Department.
Sutiyoso said members of local youth groups would be trained by the fire department to operate the extinguishers.
According to official data from 2002, there are 29,769 neighborhood units, 2,657 community units and 267 subdistricts within the city's five municipalities.
A total of 888 fires were reported last year, a slight increase from 869 fires in 2002. However, total area affected by fires sharply jumped in 2003 to 16.2 million square meters from 898,936 square meters in 2002.
Most of the fires last year occurred in 55 subdistricts, concentrated in the slum areas of North Jakarta and West Jakarta. The most common causes given for the fires were kerosene stove explosions and electrical short circuits.
Fire Department head Johnny Pangaribuan said that so far about 6,000 fire extinguishers had been procured.
"We need at least 10,000 more fire extinguishers. We will procure them gradually over five years," Johnny said.
Pangaribuan said local fire extinguisher manufacturer PT Leondita Jaya had expressed interest in selling fire extinguishers to the city.
The company's president director, Rudy Siahaan, said the company had proposed two different types of fire extinguishers to the administration, each able to put out a small fire from a distance of up to 12 meters.
"The price of a single-tube fire extinguisher weighing 70 kilograms is tagged at Rp 30 million (US$3,529), while a double- tube fire extinguisher weighing 140 kilograms is Rp 40 million," said Rudy.
He said his company, which has a plant in Gunung Putri, Bogor, had the capacity to produce at least 500 single-tube fire extinguishers and 100 double-tube fire extinguishers per month.
"Give us two or three months and we will provide the products that are needed," he said.
Besides procuring fire extinguishers, the fire department has recruited 400 new firefighters, all below the age of 25.
"We hope to recruit 1,500 new firemen this year," Pangaribuan said.
At least 65 percent of the Fire Department's force is over the age of 45.