Fire razes 800 kiosks

Fire razes 800 kiosks

An estimated 800 kiosks were reduced to ashes when a fire
razed a traditional market at Balaraja, Tangerang, some 20
kilometers from here, over the weekend.

No casualties were reported from the blaze, which took 16 fire
trucks, over 100 firemen and dozens of security officers more
than six hours to extinguish.

The fire fighters had difficulty putting out the fire because
there is no river in the area.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but
witnesses told The Jakarta Post that it was due to an exploding
stove in a kiosk belonging to Munadi, one of the traders at the
market which is located in the center of the town.

Police said that they had questioned Munadi and three other
traders in connection with the blaze, but released them several
hours later after finding no indication that they had done
anything wrong.

"We rule out the possibility of arson," a police officer said.

The blaze practically gutted all the stalls in the market,
including a motorcycle parked near a shop, as well as more than
40 jewelry shops.

Material losses were estimated at hundreds of millions of
rupiah.

Balaraja district chief H. Miftahul Ilmy said that for the
time being the traders who lost their kiosks are being
accommodated at a makeshift market on a nearby soccer field.

He said plans had long been afoot to move the traders to a
permanent marketplace, but that construction of the new market
had fallen through due to a host of technical and financial
factors. (13/bas)