Fire razes Pondok Gede shopping center<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Fire razed a three-story shopping center on Jl.
\nRaya Pondok Gede in East Jakarta on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The fire left the building totally ruined, but no causalities
\nwere reported in the incident.<\/p>\n
The fire started at around 5:30 a.m. and lasted until around
\n5:30 p.m.. Twelve fire engines from the East Jakarta and Bekasi
\nfire departments were still trying to put out the fire until late
\nin the afternoon although they managed to stop it from spreading.<\/p>\n
\"The two upper floors, where the Matahari department store and
\nthe Naga Supermarket were located, are already ruined,\" a staffer
\nat the Bekasi firefighter unit Suyitno told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
\"We still believe that there are no casualties as the incident
\nhappened at dawn and probably all security officers managed to
\nget out of the building,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Suyitno added that the fire might have been triggered by a
\nshort-circuit in an area between the two floors. \"However,
\nofficers are still trying to gather information.\"<\/p>\n
The first floor of the building houses dozens of small stores
\nand an office of Lippo Bank.<\/p>\n
There is no immediate information from the building owner over
\nthe material losses resulting from the fire.<\/p>\n
\"We had trouble putting out the fire because two of the three
\nwater hydrants were out of order, while two nine-kilogram fire
\nextinguishers were past their 1996 expiry date,\" Suyitno, who
\nhappened to conduct an inspection of the building on Friday,
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"The only available water hydrant has been used to water the
\nplants in the front yard of the building. So, we had to take the
\nwater from a nearby river located some 300 meters away from the
\nbuilding,\" he added.<\/p>\n
He said that he had warned the building management about the
\noutdated fire equipment as the building only has several windows
\nand is full of flammable materials, including clothing and
\nleather goods.<\/p>\n
\"However, the owner ignored the warning and now the building
\nis totally burned,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Satunet.com reported that some scavengers and people from the
\nsurrounding areas tried to enter the burning building as they
\nwere impatient to take the remaining goods and other material
\nfrom the razed stores.<\/p>\n
Police officers, with the help of several members of the
\nIndonesian Air Force Special Forces, had to drive these people
\naway and even threatened to shoot if they insisted on going into
\nthe building.<\/p>\n
The police arrested a scavenger, identified as Suhadi, for
\nthreatening the police with a saber as he tried to follow his
\nfriends into the building.<\/p>\n
Some people, who managed to enter the building, took clothing
\nmaterials, but security officers managed to control the
\nsituation.<\/p>\n
The most recent major fire occurred in April when 93 two-story
\nplywood shanties and a mosque in densely populated Jl. B Raya,
\nKarang Anyar subdistrict, Sawah Besar area, were razed. Some 324
\npeople were left homeless.<\/p>\n
Firefighters managed to put out the fire after three hours.
\nThe effort involved 22 fire engines. (dja)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/fire-razes-pondok-gede-shopping-center-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}