Fireman through and through

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Picture this: a multistory building is on fire, thick smoke billowing from its windows, obscuring the building from the view of anxious onlookers in the street below. The harried fire brigade aims its hoses at the blaze in vain, the streams of water rendered impotent by the massive flames. Suddenly, on the roof of the building, three people are spotted calling frantically for help.

A fire truck approaches and extends its ladder against the side of the burning building. But the ladder does not reach the roof, and it appears that the three people are doomed to die a fiery death.

But out of nowhere, a brave firefighter begins climbing the ladder. He climbs all the way to the top rung, effectively turning himself into an extension. One by one, the three people on the roof climb down the ladder, stepping from the firefighter's head to the ladder rung. All three safely reach the ground, as does the firefighter.

That is no scene from a bad movie or The World's Most Amazing Home Videos. It is a true story.

Meet Nurwachid, 60, who retired from his job as a firefighter only last year. He can still describe in vivid detail how he managed to rescue those three people during the fire which razed the Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) building on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, on July 20, 1985.

"I still remember the faces of the survivors, as they trembled in fear, clapped their hands, laughed, but then suddenly began to sob because of the trauma of what they had just gone through," Nurwachid told The Jakarta Post.

More often than most, firefighters see people in life-and- death experiences, but Nurwachid said it was something he never got used to.

"I couldn't bear seeing that. There was always an uncontrollable force that prompted me to brave the fire and rescue the victims," Nurcwachid said.

Eyewitnesses to the RRI building incident reported that Nurwachid climbed up to the top of the building without any protective gear on. Two people died in the fire, one after he jumped from the building to escape the flames.

Nurwachid's actions at the RRI building were undoubtedly his most daring rescue, besides the 12-year-old boy he saved from a fire at a warehouse in Pejagalan, North Jakarta, in the 1970s.

Nurwachid was born on July, 3, 1942, in Jombang, East Java. His father, Kerto Paeran, an independence fighter who worked clandestinely as a gun and ammunition runner, died in 1946. Nurwarchid's mother, Ponah, worked as a cook to feed her nine children, of whom Nurwachid was the youngest, after her husband's death.

Nurwachid's desire to become a firefighter began during his childhood, the first time he saw a fire truck in the East Java capital of Surabaya.

"(Fire trucks) were known as mobil kloneng then because of the bells that rungs as they passed by," Nurwachid said.

His mother told him that the truck belonged to the fire brigade. "They help and rescue people," Nurwachid recalled his mother saying.

His desire to become a firefighter left the vocational school graduate dissatisfied working in an auto repair shop in Jombang and later at a shipping company in Surabaya. Nurwachid eventually moved to Jakarta in 1966 and applied to be a firefighter.

Eight years later, Nurwachid married Sujiati in Yogyakarta. They had seven children, but three of them died of illness.

One of his children has inherited Nurwachid's passion and works in the fire prevention division of a private firm.

Nurwachid said a firefighter must have his entire heart in his work, otherwise he could become careless and get hurt.

"Doubts or lapses of concentration can endanger a firefighter's life," Nurwachid remarked, citing one experience he had that nearly cost him his eyesight.

He says that he was arguing with a fellow firefighter when a call came in for a fire. But when he got to the scene, he was still thinking about the argument.

"The impact was very serious. I was absentminded when I went into the building, and then pieces of the roof began falling on us. That caused me to lose my grip on the fire hose, which shot up and sprayed into my eyes and cut up my eyebrows," said Nurwachid, showing the still visible scars on his face.

Firefighters are exposed to all kinds of risks, Nurwachid said, adding that most firefighters here did not have proper safety devices to help them in their work.

"We never use fire gloves or masks because we don't have them, even though they are standard safety gear for firefighters," Nurwachid said, adding that firefighters here were also generally not equipped with ropes or flashlights, which are also crucial in their jobs.

The lack of proper safety gear for firefighters is among the reasons why they often fail to put out fires quickly or rescue victims, Nurwachid said.

Then there is the heavy traffic congestion in the capital that also prevents firefighters from extinguishing fires quickly and effectively.

"Often, we just have to take the criticism from the public for arriving at the scene late, which ignores the fact that we did our best to help them," Nurwachid sighed.

Another problem is that many of the city's firefighters are no longer young. Sixty percent of the 2,000 employees of the fire agency in Jakarta, which records some 700 fires annually, are older than 45. Of these 2,000 people, about 1,700 of them work in the field while the rest handle administrative duties.

Also, many buildings here have poor fire prevention systems, which inspired Nurwachid to design and create new tools to break through concrete walls and glass, which hamper firefighters from reaching fires.

"My crusher works more effectively than a steel saw, which takes a couple of minutes, while mine only takes 30 seconds," Nurwachid said.

Although Nurwachid has retired from the agency, he continues to contribute his thoughts on how to improve the fire brigade based on his long hands-on experience.

"Saving someone's life gives a great deal of joy and satisfaction to every firefighter, even though those who are saved forget to say thanks," said Nurwachid, who still lives in a modest two-story boarding house belonging to the City Fire Agency.