Fire razes nine houses in Kramat Jati

Fire razes nine houses in Kramat Jati

JAKARTA (JP): Fire razed nine stores in Kramat Jati district, East Jakarta, at midday on Friday, a firefighter said.

Tukiman said the fire broke out at about 1:30 p.m. and razed the stores, which had been converted from homes.

An electronic store, a privately owned telecommunications booth and a retail store on Jl. Raya Bogor were among the destroyed property.

Thousands of local residents gathered at the scene, creating traffic congestion along the street while they watched the firefighters extinguish the fire.

As the firefighters finished, some of the crowd went into the burned stores to view the damage and took goods which were salvageable.

Some, however, began looting biscuits, dried noodles and cigarettes. They threw them to the crowd from a gutted store in the back part of the area which was burned.

The residents' action frightened other shop owners whose stores were not affected by the fire. The owners immediately closed their shops, fearing the crowd would also loot their belongings.

"I understand if the store owners were afraid of the crowds," Anis, a street vendor, said.

Anis said he saw the fire start from the electric wiring at a retail store.

"I'm sure the fire started from that store," he told reporters.

The fire, the first to happen in this month, was the fourth incident over the past two months.

"We sent 13 fire engines to the area and managed to put it out an hour later.

"We found no difficulty in getting water as there was a river just behind the burning stores," firefighter Tukiman said. (06)