Fire department focuses on equipment maintenance

JAKARTA (JP): The city fire department is concentrating on the maintenance of existing fire equipment in anticipation of the possibility of a rising number of fires started during the course of riots ahead of the general election in June, an official said.

Suharso, head of the department, said on Tuesday that paying special attention to equipment maintenance was all the department could do at the moment.

"Realizing that possibly we will face more problems in the future, beginning this month we will organize routine training courses on equipment maintenance," he said.

In the past, there have been frequent complaints about a lack of fire fighting equipment. However, because the city administration is short of funds, it will not allocate funds for the purchase of new fire fighting equipment for at least two years.

Data from the city fire department shows that the department only operates 106 fire engines, far below the ideal number of 265.

Because of the lack of funds and equipment, Suharso urged his subordinates to work as efficiently and effectively as possible.

"When a fire occurs, for instance, firefighters should be aware that it is dangerous to extinguish the fire from a very close range because certain equipment does not function well and their safety could be threatened," he said.

"We also have to rely heavily on other parties, such as security personnel," he said.

Based on past experiences, firefighters have to be escorted by security officers in order to prevent people from blocking their access to fires, he said without elaborating.

"There is a big possibility that this will occur in the future," he said.

"Our job has also been hindered by the city's poor block planning and the people's lack of awareness of the need to equip their houses and buildings with proper fire safety equipment," he said.

He said that it was not usual for certain areas of the city to have narrow streets which fire engines could not access, to be short of water sources and not to have an adequate number of fire hydrants.

The owners of high-rise buildings also have been accused in the past of emphasizing business considerations over fire safety.

The head of the fire department's program development, Eki Keristiawan, said that collusion sometimes occurred in the process of granting building permits, meaning the construction of many high-rise buildings went ahead despite poor fire safety planning.

"To get the building permits, certain parties sometime 'bypass' procedures without receiving approval from the fire department," he said. (ind)