Fire destroys Bandung vegetable market

Fire destroys Bandung vegetable market

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Fire ravaged the main vegetable market of Gedebage in Bandung,
destroying a total of 152 kiosks which were all closed after the
owners had gone home at 11 p.m. on Monday.

No fatalities were reported but police estimated on Tuesday
that the fire had caused hundreds of millions of rupiah in
financial losses.

Several people have been questioned, but no one has been
arrested over the fire.

Police have yet to find out what exactly caused the fire, but
a fire fighter, Asep, said that the blaze originated from an oil
stove belonging to a trader. "The owner forgot to turn off the
oil stove before leaving the kiosk," Asep speculated.

It took almost nine hours for fire fighters to put the
conflagration out.

"The wind was so strong that the fire gutted other parts of
the market very quickly, even though we had no problem obtaining
water from nearby hydrants," another fire fighter, Alben
Sidauruk, said.

Bandung has two main vegetable and fruit markets, Gedebage and
Caringin, which supply vegetable and fruit to Bandung and its
surrounding areas.

The Gedebage fire is expected to disrupt fruit and vegetable
supplies.

On Friday, an elementary school building in Ujung Berung was
destroyed by fire forcing some 900 pupils to go to other schools.

The school management has given an unexpected holiday to those
students who were unable to secure places in neighboring schools.