Land fire in North Jakarta suspected to be caused by cigarette butts

The North Jakarta and Thousand Islands Fire and Rescue Service (Gulkarmat) stated that the trigger for the land fire in the Kampung Bandan, Ancol area on Monday afternoon was suspected to be cigarette butts thrown carelessly.

“The suspected cause of the fire, which covered an area of 5,000 square metres, was cigarette butts being discarded carelessly, which ignited the blaze,” said Gatot Sulaeman, Head of Operations for North Jakarta and Thousand Islands Gulkarmat, in Jakarta on Monday.

According to a witness who was playing pigeon racing at the location, they observed a lit cigarette butt being thrown away, which subsequently ignited bamboo materials on the land.

Gatot noted that the materials caught in the fire included reeds and piles of bamboo present on the site. “We estimate the temporary losses at Rp60 million,” he said.

The fire was successfully extinguished after officers struggled for over five hours to suppress the flames. “We deployed 80 personnel and 15 fire engines to extinguish the fire,” he added.

The fire was reported by residents at 12:55 WIB, and officers arrived at the scene at 13:02 WIB to begin firefighting operations. The fire was successfully localised and entered the cooling phase at 14:22 WIB, with the flames fully extinguished by 18:22 WIB.

“Alhamdulillah, the situation has been brought under control and the fire has been successfully extinguished,” he concluded.