Most govt buildings are fire hazards

Most govt buildings are fire hazards

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Most high-rise government buildings have no proper systems for
protecting their records and important documents from fire, with
most of them also being susceptible to fire mainly due to the
negligence of building managers.

"We have warned all managers of high-rise government buildings
here to improve their fire safety systems so as to protect their
documents and records against fire, but they always make the
excuse that their departments have yet to allocate any funds for
such systems," complained City Fire Chief Johnny Pangaribuan.

Johnny also complained that many government officials simply
ignored the danger of fire.

"For instance, we have found that most of the sprinklers in
these (government) offices are in poor condition due to lack of
maintenance and obvious negligence regarding regularly checks,"
explained Johnny.

Important state documents, especially confidential ones,
Johnny said, were among the items that needed to be protected by
special safety equipment, for instance by providing automatic
sprinklers or fireproof safety cabinets.

"There must be automatic safety equipment provided to protect
the documents and data," Johnny said, adding that automatic
circuit breakers were also desirable to cut off the electricity
if a short circuit occurred.

According to Johnny, many government buildings, especially the
older ones, were in dire need of more careful checks and
maintenance due to aging equipment and fire safety systems.

Johnny recalled that the extent of the recent fire that badly
damaged the sixth floor of the finance ministry building and
destroyed important data on state assets was not only the result
of arson as stated by the police, but also negligence.

Johnny showed The Jakarta Post three official letters sent in
August last year to the finance ministry warning that the
building management needed to improve most of the fire equipment
and fire protection systems in the ministry's three main high-
rise buildings.

In the letters, the city fire department pointed out that some
fire equipment and protection systems failed to meet the
standards required by the regulations.

The letters detailed the building management's failure to
maintain hydrants, sprinklers, fire alarms, portable
extinguishers, fire exits, fire lifts, emergency lamps for fire
escape signs, emergency phones, fireproof electricity cables and
fireproof exit doors.

In addition, the letters also castigated building managers for
not having regular fire drills and checks by the city fire
department as part as the fire safety precautions required by
City Bylaw No. 3 of 1992 on the prevention and avoidance of fire
hazards.

Police declared earlier last week that the fire in the finance
ministry building was an act of arson based on the results of the
investigation carried out by the police forensic laboratory.

Police found traces of kerosene in four places, which were
believed to have been where the fire originated, something that
was at odds with the fact that the office kitchen used liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG).

Suspicion has been rife among the public, including NGOs such
as Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), that the arson attack was
meant to destroy evidence of corruption on the part of
unscrupulous government officials.

ICW coordinator, Teten Masduki recalled that acts of arson had
also damaged other government buildings, like one of the Bank
Indonesia towers in December 1997, and the Ministry of Industry
and Trade building in December 2001, both of which fires also
destroyed important documents.

Finance minister Budiono stated on Sunday that all the
documents could be recovered, but it would take some time.

He also vowed that there would be no manipulation in the
refiling of the data.