Fire razes Bank BNI building in Kota<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A fire burned out the third and fourth floors of
\na state-owned Bank BNI building in Kota, West Jakarta, at dawn
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
The fire on Jl. Lada 1 at Pinangsia subdistrict started at
\n4:20 a.m. on the third floor of the left wing of the building and
\nwent through the third and fourth floors of the right wing.<\/p>\n
Twenty-four fire engines arrived on the scene and managed to
\nextinguish the fire by 7:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
The three upper floors of the building were used for bank
\nactivities, while the lower floors accommodated the bank's
\nSwadarma School of Management and Information.<\/p>\n
President of Bank BNI Widigdo Sukarman said that the burned
\nfloors contained the bank's Jakarta-Kota branch, regional branch,
\ninternal supervision department, card center, and credit
\nprocessing office.<\/p>\n
"The internal supervision department and credit processing
\noffices were damaged. All our internal documents burned in the
\nfire," Widigdo said during his visit to the fire site.<\/p>\n
He said that the cause of the fire was still under police
\ninvestigation.<\/p>\n
"But I think it has something to do with electric cable
\nnetworks which were being repaired. We had been renovating the
\nbuilding over the past few months," Widigdo said.<\/p>\n
He said that he and some employees checked the latest
\ndevelopments of the renovation at 11 p.m. the previous night.<\/p>\n
"The fire might have been caused by a torn cable. But let's
\njust wait for the police investigation," Widigdo said.<\/p>\n
He said he did not know which room the fire started in and
\ndeclined to comment about any possibility of sabotage to the
\nbuilding, which was built in 1962.<\/p>\n
Widigdo said that the management had yet to estimate financial
\nlosses. "But both the building and the equipment are insured."<\/p>\n
He urged bank customers not to be worried because none of
\ntheir documents were destroyed by the fire.<\/p>\n
"None of our customers' documents or certificates of deposit
\nwere destroyed because the safety boxes were spared," Widigdo
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
A security officer, Suhada, said the fire also decimated 20
\nclassrooms, an English language laboratory, and a computer
\nlaboratory of the bank's training center.<\/p>\n
"The fire wiped out the newly renovated auditorium furnished
\nwith new carpet, chairs, and at least four new 25-inch
\ntelevisions," Suhada said.<\/p>\n
The city's fire department head Suharso said that three
\nexplosions occurred on the gutted floors. But they could have
\npossibly originated from the air conditioners' freon, he said.<\/p>\n
Suharso said that even though the bank's building was old, it
\nhad been equipped with sophisticated fire safety equipment,
\nincluding fire hydrants.<\/p>\n
"The problem was the inability of the building's generator to
\nwork automatically. We couldn't generate power for our pumps," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Muchlis Harun, the bank's support unit head, said that
\nthe bank was closed for one day yesterday.<\/p>\n
"We are stopping bank activity today, including activity in
\nthe unaffected building. We will operate normally tomorrow," said
\nMuchlis.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta-Kota branch's activities would temporarily be
\nmoved to nearby branches, including in Grogol and Ancol's Fantasy
\nWorld.<\/p>\n
"The bank's card center will be moved to our headquarters on
\nJl. Sudirman," Widigdo said.<\/p>\n
He said that all bank activity was expected to be entirely
\nback to normal within three to four days.<\/p>\n
Despite the fire, bank employees were still able to cast
\nballots at polling booths set up at the bank's complex yesterday.
\nThe booths were removed during the fire to another building
\nbehind the ravaged one. (jun\/ste\/cst)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/fire-razes-bank-bni-building-in-kota-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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