Negligence to blame for Jakarta fires

Negligence to blame for Jakarta fires

Damar Harsanto and Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It has been three days now, but as of Saturday the flames were
still burning in the Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta, is
touted as being the largest textile and garment market in
Southeast Asia.

An exhausting job, indeed, for the more than 200 fire fighters
who have been working day and night, backed up by 38 fire trucks,
to finally put out the flames.

Two of them, Parsimin and Talendrek, were rushed to the
hospital on Friday suffering from smoke inhalation.

Even the heavy rains that have being pouring down on the city
over the last few days failed to failed to finally dampen down
the blaze.

The fire was the largest as well the longest-lasting this year
in Jakarta. Over 5,500 kiosks have been affected, and all
business in the market brought to an abrupt halt with no word on
when it will be able to start up again. The burned-out traders
have yet to reach any agreement with the city administration over
temporary relocation.

The fire that razed the Tanah Abang market once again reminded
Jakartans how vulnerable their city is to fire threats.

Jakarta Fire Department chief Johnny Pangaribuan said the
market management had failed to provide adequate fire safety
systems and equipment as required by Bylaw No. 3/1992 on fire
prevention.

This bylaw stipulates that every 800 square meters of a public
building should be served by a fire hydrant.

With a total floor area of some 82,000 square meters, the
Tanah Abang market should have at least 100 hydrants installed.

In fact, on paper at any rate, the four-story market building
has 125 hydrants, 24 fire extinguishers and 12 water pumps.
Unforgivably, only one of those 125 hydrants was actually
working.

The market also lacked sprinklers as well as heat and smoke
detectors as required under the bylaw.

Concurring with Johnny, sociologist Wardah Hafidz said that
public ignorance on the dangers of fire had contributed to the
massive blaze.

"People are simply ignorant as to the threat of fire as can be
seen, for instance, from their careless habit of using sockets
for multiple connections, forgetting that this could easily lead
to a short circuit, the most frequent cause of fires here,"
Wardah said.

The government, in this case the city administration, was also
blamed for its failure to educate people as to the dangers posed
by fires.

"Many traditional markets, which are mostly run by the city
administration, are not equipped with proper fire safety
equipment like detectors, sprinklers and portable fire
extinguishers," said Wardah.

These markets would be the next to go up in smoke if the
government, as well the people using the buildings, failed to
improve their awareness of fire dangers, Wardah warned.

The city administration, through PD Pasar Jaya, manages more
than 120 traditional markets across Jakarta.

"It is the government's job to encourage the public to provide
proper fire safety systems and have their fire safety equipment
regularly checked so as to prevent fires," said Wardah, who is
also the chairwoman of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) non-
governmental organization.

The fire in Tanah Abang market is the fourth major fire to
occur in Jakarta this year. Earlier in January, a massive fire
razed about 500 semi-permanent kiosks in Senen market. Since
January, at least 98 fires have broken out in the city, claiming
seven lives.

The ignorance of Jakarta people about fires was clearly on
display during the Tanah Abang fire.

Despite the rapid spread of the blaze, traders and their
employees braved the flames in an effort to save their
merchandise. They seemed completely unconcerned that they were
blocking the way for fire fighters trying to get to the blaze.

Worse still, thousands of passers-by, including residents and
passing motorists, congregated to watch the fire, causing massive
traffic jams.

Before the fire, the possibility of such a devastating blaze
was the last thing on the mind of Zulkarnain, a textile trader
who lost two kiosks to the flames.

"I lost both of my shops here. The destroyed merchandise was
worth more than Rp 300 million (US$33,333) for each kiosk,"
Zulkarnain told The Jakarta Post while pointing to the third
floor of one of the gutted blocks.

Zulkarnain could only watch the fire fighters try to put out
the blaze -- a battle they were doomed to lose due to the lack of
water.

The closure of the market, the main supplier of textiles and
garments to many firms around the country, could leave millions
of people jobless.

The market supplies garment makers in Pekalongan in Central
Java, Tasikmalaya, Garut and Bogor in West Java, as well as many
international buyers, particularly those in the used-garment
trade to a number of African countries.