Horror as Cikarang Bus Depot Fire Turns Night Sky Red
Fifty buses were destroyed in a fire at the PO Sinar Jaya depot on Jalan Jarakosta, Sukadanau Village, Cikarang Barat, Bekasi Regency, West Java. The blaze was so intense that it turned the night sky around the site red.
Video footage showed flames engulfing buses parked at the location, with thick smoke billowing high into the air. The scale of the fire caused the night sky around the depot to glow red.
Bohir, commander of Platoon 3 of the Bekasi Regency Fire and Rescue Service, said his team encountered difficulties during the firefighting operation, including the distance to water sources.
“For our firefighting efforts, access was divided into two because there is a residential area next to it. There is only a boundary fence, but the heat radiation was very intense,” he said on Tuesday (18/8).
“Residents were also panicking. We had to split into two directions for firefighting — inside the site and beside the residential area. The main obstacle was that the water source was quite far; we had to draw water from Kalimalang,” he added.
The fire incident was reported to officers on Tuesday (18/8) at 01.45 WIB. Personnel arrived at the scene at around 02.00 WIB. The firefighting operation lasted approximately five hours.
The fire struck a bus depot area covering 800 square metres. The large number of vehicles at the location caused the flames to spread rapidly and threaten other buses parked in the area.
The fire was eventually extinguished, although dozens of buses at the scene could not be saved. Teams from Mako Cibitung, South Cikarang Sector, North Cikarang Sector, Pemda Sector, and Sukatani Sector took part in the firefighting operation.
After the flames were extinguished, officers continued with a cooling process to ensure the fire did not reignite. No official report has yet been released regarding the material losses incurred in the incident.
“The fire originated from the bus depot. A total of 50 buses that were no longer in operation were reported to have been burned in the incident,” said Adeng Hudaya, Head of the Bekasi Regency Fire and Rescue Service, in Cikarang, as reported by Antara on Tuesday (18/8).
The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation. Police officers are conducting further examinations to determine the initial source of the flames.
“There have been no reports of casualties in the incident. The value of losses from the fire is still being assessed. Police are also still investigating the cause of the incident,” he said.