Jakarta unable to cope with large fires

Urip Hudiono The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

It was only recently that Marsudi, 33, and his family were able to find a new place to live -- in a crowded neighborhood in Kebon Kacang, Central Jakarta.

The family was forced to move after their house in the nearby slum of Kebon Melati was razed in a large fire in July, which destroyed hundreds of houses and left thousands of people homeless.

But when Marsudi, a father of two who works as a porter at the Tanah Abang textile market, heard that two houses in their new neighborhood recently burned to the ground, he was overcome with fear that he and his family would have to relive the July inferno.

"We lost all our belongings. The only thing we could save was the clothes we were wearing and our lives," Marsudi recalled. "Thank God, the fire in our new neighborhood did not spread. I really hope there are no more fires here."

However, Marsudi and residents of other densely populated areas in the capital will continue to have to fear the next big fire.

The Jakarta Fire Department is poorly equipped and understaffed, leaving it poorly placed to fight fires in the capital.

"Most fires in slum areas are caused by short circuits from faulty electrical wiring or by exploding kerosene stoves," said the city fire department chief Johnny Pangaribuan.

Making the situation more dangerous is that many of the makeshift houses in slum areas are built from flammable materials and the areas themselves are difficult to access and lack sufficient water supplies.

In addition to slum areas, some 900 high-rise buildings in the city also are at risk of becoming infernos.

There has been little change, firemen said, since a survey of the city's high-rise buildings found that 46 percent of them did not meet the minimum safety standards as stipulated in Bylaw No. 3/1992 on fire prevention.

Likewise, 70 percent of about 600 entertainment centers in the city are still substandard in terms of safety.

Fire Department officers who inspect the buildings every two years frequently find improperly maintained fire equipment. Some of the buildings have never installed fire safety equipment out of the bizarre logic that it is unnecessary because the buildings have never experienced a fire.

According to data from the Fire Department, there were 701 fires in Jakarta in 2004 as of November, claiming the lives of 23 people, injuring 47 others and leaving thousands without homes. Material losses from the fires are estimated at over Rp 100 billion (US$11.11 million).

The number of fires in the capital has risen over the past three years, from 729 in 2001, to 837 in 2002 and 854 last year.

And there seems little chance this trend will reverse in the near future, as slum areas continue to grow and the Jakarta Fire Department continues to be woefully underfunded.

Although the administration has set aside Rp 199.6 billion for fire prevention and fire fighting in the 2004 city budget -- after slashing the fire department's budget to Rp 184.3 billion from Rp 201.5 billion last year -- the amount is still considered insufficient.

Ideally, Jakarta, with a population of about 10 million population, would have 224 subdistrict-level fire stations -- each equipped with two hose trucks -- covering 30,000 residents each. It would have another 37 district-level stations -- each equipped with two hose trucks, one ladder truck, one rescue truck, one command vehicle and one ambulance -- each covering 200,000 residents.

Furthermore, with an area of 66,152 hectares, 6,400 kilometers of roads and 87 of 267 subdistricts prone to fire, the city needs at least 20,000 fire hydrants.

Currently, the department has 81 subdistrict fire stations and five district stations, sharing just 138 fire trucks among them.

And there are only about 900 functioning fire hydrants in the city. Making things even worse, some of these fire hydrants are controlled by hoodlums who refuse to allow them to be used without a payment.

The fire department is also facing problems with its human resources, with fewer young recruits signing up and 65 percent of the department's total 2,520 firefighters over 55 years of age.

Despite these limitations, the fire department has not given up trying to improve its services.

Last year, the department trained 3,000 youths from 55 fire- prone subdistricts under the Fire Volunteer Front program on how to operate industrial fire extinguishers.

"Fire prevention should involve the participation and the building of awareness among residents themselves," Johnny said.

The department also installed 600 fire alarms and distributed 6,640 fire extinguishers and 30 portable water pumps to fire- prone areas. The alarms, which link neighborhood units with fire stations, theoretically would enable firefighters arrive at the scene of a fire within 15 minutes.

Residents must be prepared to help the fire department prevent the word "inferno" from becoming a permanent part of the city's name.