Fire destroys 300 kiosks in Petisah market, Medan

Fire destroys 300 kiosks in Petisah market, Medan

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

At least 300 kiosks selling second hand clothes and household
items at the Petisah market on Jl. Nibung Raya in downtown Medan,
North Sumatra, were destroyed by fire at dawn on Sunday. No
fatalities were reported, but losses are believed to amount to at
least Rp 1 billion.

Local police assumed the fire had been caused by an electrical
short circuit.

"We drew this conclusion based on statements from three of the
market's night guards. For the time being we are going by their
statements," said Brig. Sehat Tarigan of the Medan Baru Police
precinct, whose office is located around 50 meters from the
market.

Three night guards, Sofar Hutagalung, Basri Tampubolon and
Walter Nainggolan, were questioned by police soon after the fire.

The head of the Petisah Market Tax Office, Syahrul Saragih,
also speculated that an electrical short circuit had caused the
fire.

"We've reported electricity problems in the market many times
to the state electricity company (PLN). But PLN failed to respond
to our reports properly," Syahrul told The Jakarta Post on
Sunday.

Most of the victims of the fire were housewives selling second
hand clothes and household items.

Many of them were weeping as they looked at what remained of
their 2 x 2 meter kiosks on Sunday afternoon.

Some of them assumed that the fire had been deliberately lit.

"It seems odd that the plastic chair was not burnt while
everything in my kiosk was reduced to ash," said Br Sihombing, a
second hand clothing seller, pointing to a plastic chair, which
she claimed had been in the kiosk when she locked up the day
before.

She said she had been told about the fire only at around 9
a.m. or some five hours after the blaze had taken place. "I
decided not to go to church. I headed for the market and found
everything had gone."

She was one of a large number of kiosk owners who were still
at the market.

They said they planned to stage a protest demanding that the
night guards be held responsible for the fire.

Last December 400 residents' houses at the Kampung Kubur
Petisah, not far from the Petisah market, were destroyed by fire.
Police have yet to find a cause for the blaze.

Traders had been occupying the 300 temporary kiosks for the
past five years while they waited for the construction of a
permanent shopping center called Petisah II, which was supposed
to become the best in Medan.

Spokesman for the kiosk owners Dorris Napitupulu said that the
total losses could reach billions of rupiah.

"The traders could save nothing from their kiosks as the fire
gutted the complex. Many traders, whose residences are a long way
from the market, also used the kiosks as their homes," Dorris
said.

The traders would be accommodated in temporary kiosks free of
charge.

"The local administration must assume responsibility for the
continuation of the traders' businesses after the fire. All the
traders were subject to various levies for sanitation, security
et cetera imposed by the local administration."