'No multi-story buildings in city meet standards'

JAKARTA (JP): Ninety-five percent of all fire victims die of smoke inhalation rather than burns, a city fire official said.

Johny Pangaribuan, who is in charge of public information at the city fire department, advised people trapped in burning multi-story buildings to get down close to the floor and to crawl instead of walk because smoke tends to rise.

He said Wednesday that the poor ventilation of multi-story buildings in the capital leads to fatal exposure to smoke.

None of the around 300 buildings over five stories high in the city meet the standards stipulated in a 1992 city ordinance, he said.

Apart from poor construction, lack of fire safety equipment, and lack of adequate preparation to fight fires, vehicle access to the grounds of many buildings is hindered by narrow streets and entryways, Johny said.

Johny pointed out, for example, the rule that for every 30 people on one floor of a high-rise building, there should be at least one team of six persons ready to act in case of fire.

He added that, "When I saw the Mustika Centre building on Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta, I imagined it would be very hard for fire engines to reach the building should a fire happen there."

He was addressing reporters before a meeting with officials on fire prevention and drills at City Hall.

"Staff of government buildings are the most difficult people to get to cooperate in regards to fire prevention and drills," Johny said. He speculated that this might be due to financial constraints.

The situation at the 23-story Block G of City Hall, which houses dozens of offices and hundreds of employees, proves that the fire official's concerns are well founded. Access to some exits are half blocked by filing cabinets and desks. And the exits and stairways do not meet the standards, which stipulate their size based on the number of people on one floor.

Johny cited discotheques as still another example of the lack of preparedness in the advent of fire in buildings used by the public. One discotheque, located on the eighth floor of a building in West Jakarta only, has too few exits in relation to its capacity which reaches 15,000 people on weekends, he added.

The attitudes of building owners also contribute to the existence of substandard construction and equipment, he said.

Many owners have changed the functions of their buildings. Some who have permits for offices have turned their buildings into discotheques, he said.

Many owners who are insured think they do not need to maintain their equipment, Johny added.

Since the 1980s, anyone requesting building permits from the city's development supervision agency has to have recommendations from the fire department. However, Johny said this does not help much.

"It depends on who owns the building," he said. Often there is a sort of "mutual understanding" between permit applicants and those who issue them, he lamented.

In multi-story buildings, ultimate prevention of fires and damage control largely depends on the building and its inhabitants, rather than the fire department and its equipment, Johny said.

He said he did not have the latest figures on the number of people killed or injured in fires this year. (anr)