Illegal Waste Dump Fire in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, Has Occurred Multiple Times

A pile of rubbish on Jalan Raya Bekasi KM 21, RT 004/RW 004, Pegangsaan Dua, Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, has reportedly caught fire several times. The ward head of Pegangsaan Dua, Sarmudi, revealed that the blaze at the location, which occurred over two consecutive days on Thursday (23/4/2026) and Friday (24/4/2026), was not the first. “Yes, it’s true; fires have indeed happened several times at this spot,” he told Kompas.com on Friday. Nevertheless, he noted that this fire was considerably larger and lasted longer than previous incidents. “This seems to be the biggest one, lasting two days,” he stated. “It’s an illegal waste disposal site. So, this is not a designated place or location for dumping or piling up rubbish,” he emphasised. The ward office has coordinated with the North Jakarta Environmental Sub-Department (Sudin LH) to take action against the land managers using the area as a rubbish dump. “For handling at the ward level, since the land is not a regional government asset, we have issued warnings to the cultivators in this area,” he said. “Since October 2025, at the Sudin LH level, they have already been sanctioned for environmental pollution,” he added. He hopes that Sudin LH will take firmer action, including the possible closure of the site. “(I hope) there will be higher-level actions; if necessary, this place should be shut down completely. Of course, as a resident of Pegangsaan Dua myself, I hope this waste dumping site can be closed,” he further remarked. The fire was extinguished on Thursday night, but smoke reappeared a few hours later. Ward head Sarmudi said that when the fire reignited, the ward office immediately coordinated with the fire brigade team. “It’s possible that there was still fire underneath, so it flared up again,” Sarmudi explained. According to him, the re-emergence of the fire is suspected to have come from embers still remaining under the rubbish pile. He could not yet confirm the initial cause of the fire, but there is suspicion that it originated from small-scale rubbish burning activities that then spread. “Initially, the local residents didn’t know why the fire started, but it’s possible that someone burned a small amount of rubbish, and it ended up spreading to the rubbish here,” he clarified.