Fire razes 55 homes in Kemayoran

JAKARTA: At least 256 residents of Kemayoran in Central Jakarta lost their homes after a massive fire engulfed 55 plywood and brick houses on Jl. Kemayoran Barat I and Kemayoran Utara on Sunday.

An eyewitness, Sopiah, 56, said that the fire started at 11:30 a.m. on the second floor of a house belong to one Muslimin.

The fire spread rapidly to other semipermanent homes in the area owing to the strong wind, she said.

Other eyewitnesses blamed Edi, 8, Muslimin's mentally disabled son, who was seen played with matches before the fire started.

"Three months ago, Edi set a bed on fire but people spotted it quickly and the fire was put out before it spread," Supiah was quoted as saying by Tempointeraktif.com.

Muslimin, however, said his son had nothing to do with the fire.

"He was watching television downstairs with my wife," he said, while acknowledging that the fire began on the upper floor of house.

Police from the Kemayoran police station said they suspected the cause of the fire was a short circuit.

The city fire department deployed 30 fire trucks to extinguish the blaze.-- JP