Plastic warehouse in West Jakarta still emitting thick smoke after more than 20 hours
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - A fire at a plastic warehouse on Jalan Peternakan Raya, Gang Semut, Kapuk, Cengkareng, West Jakarta, has not been fully extinguished as of Tuesday afternoon (19/5/2026).
A Kompas.com observation at the site showed thick black smoke still billowing high from the building’s rubble, even though the fire had been burning for more than 20 hours since first occurring on Monday (18/5/2026) at around 14:30 Western Indonesia Time (WIB).
The situation indicates that the embers inside the pile of plastic material are still burning, even though the hotspot has been localised by officers.
The roof and part of the building’s wall also collapsed due to the blaze.
Sixteen fire engines remain on site.
Officials have also deployed Bronto Skylift units to spray water from above the rubble and remaining burning plastic material.
Head of Operations, Sub-Directorate of Firefighting and Rescue (Gulkarmat) West Jakarta, Syaiful Kahfi, said the firefighting process was hindered by the large amount of plastic material piled inside the warehouse.
‘The pile of goods is large, so we are still working on this. Because the fire is caused by plastic, even if we spray it, it doesn’t penetrate to the bottom,’ Syaiful told Kompas.com on Tuesday morning.
He said officers are currently coordinating with the building owner to bring in heavy equipment such as excavators or backhoes.
‘Therefore we are coordinating with the building owner to arrange a backhoe (excavator), so it will be dismantled first and then sprayed. Use the backhoe to dismantle first, then we spray. If not, it will drag on; tomorrow we may be called,’ he said.
Although the fire is not fully out, Syaiful assured that the hotspot had been localised since Monday night.
‘The localisation is not moving; around 12 midnight we had localised it, the fire is not spreading anywhere. If the fire is still burning, at 02:00 WIB the fire was still red, but not moving, staying there,’ he explained.