After four days, plastic warehouse fire in Cengkareng, West Jakarta still not fully extinguished

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — A fire at a plastic warehouse on Jalan Peternakan Raya, Gang Semut, Kapuk, Cengkareng, West Jakarta, remained not fully extinguished as it entered its fourth day on Thursday afternoon (21 May 2026). The tall pile of debris crushing the plastic materials has prevented full suppression since the blaze began on Monday afternoon (18 May 2026). Head of Operations (Kasie Ops) of the West Jakarta Fire and Rescue Sub-Department (Sudin Gulkarmat Jakarta Barat), Syaiful Kahfi, confirmed that cooling operations are ongoing. He said there are still hot spots burning inside the rubble, not reached by water spray, due to the collapse. “Inside there is still fire. So, because of the being crushed, the flames aren’t hit by our spray. That’s why we must use a backhoe, lift the rubble, then we spray,” he said. The main challenge for on-site personnel is the pile of plastic-based materials buried under debris. Plastic materials burn easily and melt, sticking to the rubble and can reignite in the heat. “The difficulty is that the goods are buried under the walls. They are underneath; we can’t spray. Moreover, plastic, and even other materials, when buried like this can be quite heavy, posing a challenge because there are many of them,” said Syaiful. The backhoe has been deployed at the site since around 12:00 WIB on Wednesday. However, backhoe operations were halted at night and resumed this morning. As of today, 18 units of equipment and 90 firefighters have been deployed to extinguish the fire. When asked about a target for completing the firefighting operation, which has taken days, Syaiful said he could not provide a timeframe.