Day of fires leaves hundreds homeless

Day of fires leaves hundreds homeless

Apriadi Gunawan
The Jakarta Post
Medan, North Sumatra

A massive fire burned down 165 houses in the coastal area of
Belawan here on Tuesday afternoon, leaving hundreds of people
homeless.

No casualties were reported in the disaster.

Eyewitnesses said the fire started at 2 p.m. and strong winds
helped it spread across the slum area, which was home to local
fishermen. The blaze also engulfed around 50 houses in the nearby
housing complex for Indonesian Navy personnel.

It took firefighters almost one-and-a-half hours to extinguish
the blaze, even with a team of 11 fire trucks.

Local police have yet to determine the cause of the fire, but
chief of Belawan police Comr. Hermawan Daka said he suspected
that an electrical short in one of the houses might have sparked
the fire.

"We are still questioning key witnesses, including the
occupant of the house where the fire allegedly started," Hermawan
told The Jakarta Post.

Police estimated the financial losses resulting from the fire
at hundreds of millions of rupiah.

People who lost their homes have sought refuge in mosques and
houses that were spared from the fire.

A man was apprehended by residents for alleged looting and
handed him over to a local Army outpost, one of the residents
said.

Later in the evening, another fire destroyed five-story shops
along on Jl. Sekip in the provincial capital of Medan.

No casualties were reported, but losses inflicted by the
incident reached billions of rupiah, as the stores sold expensive
building materials and electrical equipment.

Firefighters apparently had difficulties dousing the fire
because of the flammable materials in the shops.

One firefighter said he had to use sand to put out the fire.

Police are still investigating the cause of the fire.