Fire destroys five semi-permanent homes in Palmerah, West Jakarta

A fire swept through a residential area on Jalan Palmerah Utara III, RT 15/RW 08, Palmerah Village, Palmerah District, West Jakarta, on Sunday evening. According to local resident Rafi, the flames are suspected to have originated from one of the houses and quickly grew, engulfing around five semi-permanent homes. “Initially I didn’t know, because I was outside. Then my family called to say there was a fire. Mr Beni’s house was on fire, then it spread. More than five houses,” Rafi said. He mentioned the fire was first triggered by a stove that was left on. “Apparently they were cooking, then forgot and left it,” Rafi stated. Upon seeing the fire, local residents rushed to douse the burning structures to prevent it from spreading further. A total of 13 fire engines with 65 personnel were deployed, according to an official named Syaiful. After battling the blaze for about an hour, starting from 6.37 p.m. Western Indonesian Time, the firefighters managed to control and extinguish the flames, preventing them from spreading to other buildings. There were no reports of casualties in the incident. However, five semi-permanent houses were gutted. The fire case is now being handled by the Palmerah Police Sector to investigate the exact cause of the blaze.