Fire in Duren Sawit Destroys 40 Buildings, 84 People Affected

A major fire struck a residential area on Jalan Pendidikan Raya VI, Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, on Tuesday (25/8/2026). The incident, which occurred at around 10.40 WIB, destroyed at least 40 buildings.

The head of RT 04/RW 14, Dwi, confirmed that the majority of the buildings that burned were semi-permanent dwellings. “There are 40 buildings affected, 39 semi-permanent houses (bedeng houses), and one fully permanent house, a resident’s home,” Dwi said when contacted in Jakarta.

Dwi explained that the fire is suspected to have originated from one of the residents’ houses that was empty. Although the fire spread quickly and destroyed dozens of buildings, it was confirmed that there were no fatalities in the incident. However, 84 people were reported affected and lost their homes.

According to an eyewitness at the scene, Baskoro, the fire spread rapidly because the area was dominated by semi-permanent buildings made of highly flammable materials. He also highlighted a bad habit of burning rubbish in the vicinity before the disaster occurred.

“These are semi-permanent houses, actually illegal by law. They have burned rubbish carelessly several times,” Baskoro said.

Regarding the possibility of an electrical short circuit, Baskoro said it was unlikely to have been the cause in the house where the fire started. According to information from the owner of the house that first caught fire, the electricity in the building was switched off because no one was living there.

“For this one that burned, a residential house, according to the owner the electricity was off because there was indeed no one there,” he added.

A number of personnel from the East Jakarta Fire and Rescue Sub-department (Sudin Gulkarmat) were deployed to the scene to extinguish the fire and prevent it from spreading further to surrounding residential areas. As of the time this report was filed, officers were still carrying out cooling operations at the scene.