50 Firefighters Extinguish Blaze at Rubbish Dump in Cengkareng

Fifty personnel from the West Jakarta Fire and Rescue Service (Gulkarmat) were deployed to tame a fire that consumed piles of rubbish and scrap stalls on Jalan Darussalam, RT 14/RW 06, East Cengkareng, on Tuesday (14/7) morning.

Head of West Jakarta Gulkarmat, Syaiful Kahfi, confirmed that all hotspots in the area have now been completely extinguished.

"The final deployment was 10 units with a strength of 50 personnel. The extinguishing operation is complete," said Syaiful Kahfi when confirmed in Jakarta on Tuesday (14/7).

"There were no casualties," he stressed.

Syaiful explained that the first fire report was received by the fire service at around 04:48 WIB. Officers moved quickly and arrived at the location to begin extinguishing operations at 04:56 WIB. After battling the flames for more than an hour, the blaze was finally fully subdued at 06:32 WIB.

Based on initial investigations at the scene, the early morning disaster is strongly suspected to have originated from a pile of rubbish. The fire then quickly spread and engulfed the surrounding scrap stalls.

"The cause is not yet known. Essentially, information from local residents indicates the fire initially came from the rubbish there," Syaiful added.

The incident had earlier caused panic among residents and went viral on social media. In circulating video footage, towering flames could be seen from a distance accompanied by plumes of thick black smoke billowing into the air. Although it caused material losses with the scrap stalls being gutted, authorities confirmed that no members of the public or officers were victims in the incident.