Plastic warehouse fire in West Jakarta remains unextinguished after seven days as flames reignite

As it enters its seventh day, the plastic warehouse fire in Cengkareng, West Jakarta remains unextinguished as of Monday, 25 May 2026. The fire, which had previously begun to subside, reignited on Sunday, 24 May 2026 evening due to smouldering embers and plastic materials buried beneath debris. According to Kompas.com’s monitoring, three fire engines were still operating at the scene on Monday afternoon. Several firefighters were seen manually spraying water onto the two fire hotspots. Heavy machinery, including excavators, had been operating to clear and break up debris to allow water to reach the flames. Danang Darul Fadli, Head of Operations at West Jakarta Fire Department, stated that today’s firefighting operation deployed three fire engines and 25 personnel. He added that successful extinguishment depends on heavy machinery to clear the rubble. ‘The firefighting process should have been completed by now. The heavy pile of steel and concrete from the collapsed second floor is covering the fire source,’ Danang told Kompas.com at the scene on Monday. Danang explained that the complete collapse of the building structure has obscured the main fire source at the warehouse’s base. ‘Plastic pellets and other materials inside are still burning, making them difficult to reach… due to the rubble of concrete and steel blocking water access to the lower levels,’ Danang said. To address the issue, firefighters require heavy machinery such as excavators or bulldozers. These machines are needed to clear debris before water can be directly sprayed onto the fire. As the fire department does not own heavy machinery, they have requested excavators from the warehouse owner.