Nearly half of city high-rises neglect fire safety standards
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Owners of almost half of the 542 high-rises in Jakarta have failed to properly maintain the buildings' fire safety systems or have fire safety equipment regularly checked, the head of the Jakarta Fire Agency, Johnny Pangaribuan, said on Friday.
"Based on standard requirements, buildings usually have water sprinklers, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and fire hydrants on their premises. However, poor maintenance and the owners' negligence have lead to these systems being out-of-order or not functioning properly," Johnny told The Jakarta Post.
He said that only 75 percent of the existing 800 water hydrants located near high-rises and other public facilities were operable. "The rest of the 25 percent are damaged."
Johnny called on building owners to be more alert to damaged fire safety systems. "With inadequate fire protection, it becomes very hazardous when fire strikes."
State-owned institutions were among those who were negligent, he said.
He said uncooperative building management and poor law enforcement were the main factors causing poor safety standards to continue.
Some buildings block their fire exits, he said, citing examples at the 14-story Manggala Wanabakti on Jl. Gelora 1 and the 19-story Ministry of National Education on Jl. Jend. Sudirman.
"Areas with fire exits are used to store steel cabinets that are not in use and cleaning equipment in the Manggala Wanabakti building, while the exits at the ministry are blocked with various items. Vendors also occupy most of the space in front of the exits," he said.
"The buildings' lack of fire safety equipment and early warning devices simply demonstrates the owners' or managements' disregard to our warnings, or they are just belittling our profession," Johnny said. He added that his office could do nothing more but file recommendations or notes with the governor, who has the legal right to act against negligent building owners.
"The governor usually has the buildings without proper fire protection systems sealed off or their building permits reviewed for violating a bylaw on fire prevention," Johnny said.
According to City Bylaw No. 3/1992 on fire protection systems, those who fail to abide by the requirements stated in the bylaw are subject to three months in jail or a Rp 50,000 (US$5.50) fine.
A new bylaw issued last year has increased the fine to Rp 5 million.
However, the head of the Jakarta Building Control Agency, Jumhana Tjakrawirya, revealed that the court usually ordered violators to pay only a maximum fine of Rp 300,000 for the offense.
"That's a meager amount for rich businesspeople," Jumhana told the Post earlier on Wednesday in his office.
Johnny said that his office found it difficult to have their staff members monitor every high-rise for irregularities.
"Jakarta has 2,098 firefighters spread over five mayoralties. They have to cope with fighting at least two fires a day, or an average of 700 fires a year. The lack of personnel has been a real constraint," Johnny said.
Last year, the agency reported that there were 772 fires in the city, with 18 people killed, 38 others injured and 305 buildings gutted.