Two Fires Strike Cirebon Regency in a Single Day: Islamic Boarding School and Resident's Goat Pen Destroyed

In less than 24 hours, two fires struck Cirebon Regency, West Java. The first fire engulfed a building belonging to the Al-Anwariyah Islamic Boarding School Foundation, located in Block 4, Tegal Gubug Lor Village, Arjawinangun District, on Monday afternoon. The second fire destroyed a house and a goat pen belonging to a resident in Susukan Lebak.

Fortunately, the fire at the Islamic boarding school occurred when the students were not active in the room. The incident, suspected to have been triggered by an electrical short circuit, gutted the third-floor area of the school building and caused material losses amounting to hundreds of millions of rupiah.

Eno Sujana, Head of the Firefighting, Rescue, and Infrastructure Division at the Cirebon Regency Fire and Rescue Service, explained that the flames were estimated to have first appeared around 1:07 p.m. local time. The incident was reported to the Arjawinangun Sector Fire Post at 1:40 p.m. Upon arrival, personnel found the fire still quite large and blazing on the third floor. They immediately deployed hoses to localise and extinguish the fire.

Given the fire’s location on the high third floor and the size of the blaze, the Arjawinangun Sector Post promptly requested water supply and personnel reinforcements from the Palimanan and Weru Sectors. This step was taken to anticipate the fire spreading to surrounding buildings.

Based on information from one of the foundation’s administrators, the fire is believed to have originated from substandard electrical installations on the wooden roof of the students’ rest area. As the room was a semi-permanent structure made of wood, the fire spread very quickly. The situation was exacerbated by strong winds at the location, causing the fire to spread to the students’ study hall on the north side. Before firefighters arrived, the students and boarding school administrators worked together to try to tame the blaze with makeshift equipment. After battling the fire, officers finally managed to bring the situation under control and extinguish the flames by 2:30 p.m. The process then continued with a cooling phase until 3:45 p.m. to ensure no remaining embers could potentially reignite.

An area of approximately 240 square metres on the third floor was burnt out, while only about 60 square metres of the total 300-square-metre floor area was saved. Several facilities and students’ belongings were also destroyed, including copies of the Quran, students’ clothing, cupboards, fans, a water tower, and loudspeakers. Total material losses are estimated at Rp 200 million, with no casualties reported.

Still in the same regency, a fire struck a house and goat pen belonging to a resident in Puhun Block, Pasawahan Village, Susukan Lebak District, on Monday evening. The incident, triggered by the burning of leftover animal feed, resulted in eight goats being burnt to death and material losses estimated at Rp 40 million.

Eno Sujana explained that the report of the fire was received by the Lemahabang Sector Post at 8:40 p.m. Officers were immediately deployed to the scene. Upon arrival, they carried out firefighting operations and cut off the fire’s path in unburnt areas to prevent it from spreading to other rooms. The blaze is believed to have originated from a fire used to burn leftover goat feed in the southern area behind the house, which was left unattended by the owner. Strong gusts of wind that night caused the flames to grow quickly and engulf the pen structure. The fire continued to spread, destroying a bedroom area located close to the pen. At the time of the incident, the homeowner was not present. Panicked residents who saw the growing flames worked together to extinguish the fire with makeshift tools while contacting the Lemahabang Sector firefighters. The extinguishing process was completed by 9:45 p.m., followed by a cooling phase until 10:02 p.m. The fire killed eight goats inside the pen and also destroyed the bedroom and household furniture such as cupboards, a bed frame, a fan, and other flammable items.