Fire razes police houses

JAKARTA (JP): A fire destroyed four homes at a police housing complex on Jl. K.S. Tubun, Slipi, West Jakarta. No fatalities were reported.

The fire, which started at 7:05 p.m., originated from a house belonging to a retired police officer, said Suprijadi, a chief of the West Jakarta Fire Department.

There are 389 families of both retired and active police officers living in the complex, built in 1951.

"An electrical short circuit on the second floor of (a retired officer's home) caused the fire," he said.

The other three houses belonged to Warrant Officer Suharno, Sergeant Major Widodo and First Sergeant Maryono.

The fire department deployed seven fire trucks and extinguished the fire in an hour.

Maski, a witness, said most of the four houses were empty.

"I saw the fire on Hutabarat's second floor. I approached the house, but neither the maid, who was doing the dishes in the kitchen, nor the son of the house owner, who was bathing, knew about the fire," Maski told The Jakarta Post. (cst/jun)