Fire razes 300 houses in Jelambar
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
More than 2,000 people lost their homes on Friday when a fire burned down their houses along Jl. Jelambar Jaya 3 and Jl. Jelambar Jaya 4 in Jelambar Baru subdistrict, West Jakarta, at around 2:30 p.m.
"At least 290 families from five neighborhood units lost their homes. So far, no casualties have been reported," said the community unit head, Halimi.
Three people were injured in the incident. One of the victims, Andi, was taken to Sumber Waras Hospital with minor burns, another, Wiwiek, collapsed from shock and Johan Susanto had a heart attack after realizing his house was destroyed. He is being cared for by his family and his condition has improved.
A total of 21 fire trucks from the West, Central and North Jakarta fire departments were deployed and arrived in less than 10 minutes.
"If we had come a bit late, the fires could have razed all houses in this area. Fires burn things quickly because of the strong wind," said firefighter Rochmat.
"It's lucky that the houses are close to the (Grogol) river so we had no trouble in finding a source of water."
By 5 p.m. firefighters, assisted by hundreds of residents, managed to put out the fire. Only light smoke continued to fill the air while hundreds of people still gathered along the roads gazing at what was left of their homes.
"The fire was suspected to have been caused by a short circuit in one of the houses," said the Jelambar Baru subdistrict chief Kusmanto.
Most of the home owners had no time to save their belongings because the fire spread so quickly.
"I have lost most of my belongings. All I could take from the house were some documents and a few pieces of clothing," said Titik, 39, a mother of three children.
Lindri Sakiman, 53, said that she was able to save her granddaughter from the fire and was very grateful that she had managed to do that.
"I can always earn money to build a house but I can't imagine losing my granddaughter," she said.
The Jelambar Baru subdistrict and Grogol Petamburan district officials have set up two emergency tents nearby to take in the homeless people while the West Jakarta Social Affairs Agency has provided 600 kilograms of rice and 30 boxes of instant noodles. The Jakarta Red Cross has also provided health services and medicine.
The Jelambar area is notorious for such blazes. On Oct. 23, a fire burned down 14 houses in the same area.
"This is the third time that a fire has broken out in this area. We experienced similar blazes in 1981 and 1991," said Halimi, adding that he had heard that the residents would be evicted due to a road-widening project.
The deputy chief of Grogol Petamburan district, Yanto Satyar, said that the Jelambar area was state land and the people there would have to leave if the state wanted to use its property.