Iron Grilles Hinder Firefighters from Extinguishing Blaze that Killed Family in West Jakarta

West Jakarta Mayor Iin Mutmainah revealed that iron grilles installed on the house posed a significant obstacle for firefighters in extinguishing a blaze in Tanjung Duren Utara, Grogol Petamburan, West Jakarta. The fire resulted in the deaths of five family members at the scene.

“One thing that caught our attention is that the house indeed had iron grilles. This made the process (of extinguishing the fire) difficult,” said West Jakarta Mayor Iin Mutmainah, as quoted by Antara on Saturday (18/4/2026).

According to her, the firefighters faced challenges in evacuating the victims due to the presence of the grilles. This situation has drawn Iin’s attention to houses in West Jakarta.

“Therefore, we hope that this can also become a point of attention; indeed, for security purposes, but it will also complicate evacuations,” said Iin.

According to Iin, the firefighters found the five victims trapped on the second floor of the house. She suspects the victims were trying to save themselves but became trapped by the fire.

“At the time of the incident, the fire started from below, from the first floor. The five people inside went upstairs to save themselves. Perhaps when they tried to come down, the victims could no longer escape because they were surrounded by fire,” Iin stated.

She advised the public to carefully weigh the risks before installing iron grilles on their homes.

Iin called for an investigation into the cause of the fire that killed one family on Jalan Rambutan Timur VI, Tanjung Duren, Grogol Petamburan, in the early hours of Friday. She said that for now, the fire is suspected to have been caused by an electrical short circuit.

“Today, we see that the cause is electricity, the electrical condition, which is still being investigated further regarding the main cause of the short circuit,” said Iin.

It is known that the fire occurred in the early hours of Friday (17/4) at around 02:18 WIB. The house that caught fire is located at Jalan Rambutan Timur 6 RT 05 RW 04, Tanjung Duren Utara Ward, Grogol Petamburan Subdistrict, West Jakarta.

“The fire object is a residential house. Five fatalities,” said the Head of Operations of the West Jakarta Fire and Rescue Sub-Directorate (Gulkarmat), Achmad Saiful Kahfi, on Friday (17/4).

In the initial response, eight fire trucks along with 40 firefighters were deployed to the scene. The firefighters found the victims while searching inside the house.