'No multi-story buildings in city meet standards'

'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)