Fire department appeals for equipment, personnel

JAKARTA (JP): With the risk of fires ever increasing, the city fire department is proposing an increment to fire fighting equipment and personnel.

"We have only 7 percent of an ideal of 10,000 fire hydrants throughout the city," head of the city fire department, Suharso, told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony marking the establishment of a Rapid Firefighters Unit at City Hall.

"Currently, there are 706 fire hydrants throughout the city. We also only have 92 out of 265 required water reservoirs," he said.

Suharso said his department had, therefore, tried to handle fires in the city, especially in densely populated areas, with its limited resources.

"The city has 192 fire trucks of various types and sizes, but only 113 of them are in good condition," he said, while adding that the city needed an additional 211 fire trucks.

He said his firefighters often tried to draw water from nearby rivers or lakes when there were no hydrants near the fire scenes.

He, however, hinted that it was currently difficult to get water as each of the city's fire trucks only had an eight-meter hose to drain water, while some rivers had already dried up.

Above all, he said, his department would also need additional personnel to deal with the increasing fire threats in the city.

"Currently, there are 2,449 firefighters in the city. We're thinking of increasing the number to 6,459 by 2008," Suharso said.

He said the city fire department also needed an additional 56 fire stations, as presently there were just 83 stations. "While the city has only 2 out of 20 big regional stations needed."

Suharso said the city fire department recorded an average loss of Rp 109 billion (US$15 million) in each year of the previous five years.

"There were 990 fire cases last year with a combined loss of more than Rp 100 billion," he said.

He said his office had recorded 675 fires as of Dec. 2, with a total loss of Rp 47 billion.

Rapid unit

Suharso said that the city was now in bad need of a rapid firefighter unit to deal with fires in densely populated areas.

"Ideally, there should be a rapid firefighter unit in each of Jakarta's 256 subdistricts to give a better service to the residents," he said.

Each rapid firefighter unit would comprise of eight firefighters riding on four motorcycles. The team would be equipped with portable fire extinguishers and rescue equipment.

Suharso admitted that his fire department was considerably the slowest department in Southeast Asia.

"We are still unable to break our time limit of nine minutes to reach any fire spots. The limit in Singapore is seven minutes, while in Hong Kong it is six minutes," he said.

He, however, also blamed the city residents for obstructing the firefighters' movements, causing them delays in getting to the scenes.

"Sometimes the crowd of residents block the fire trucks from approaching the scene. Often, they insist that their houses be given fire prevention priority," he said. (05)