Two furniture shops gutted by fire

JAKARTA (JP): Two furniture shops were gutted by a fire on Jl. Jembatan Tinggi in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, on Monday.

The fire was discovered in a shop belonging to Aming at 4:30 p.m. Despite falling rain, the fire spread quickly to a neighboring shop.

Thirteen fire engines were dispatched to the scene, but their arrival was delayed by hundreds of vendors who had set up temporary stalls on roads surrounding the burning shops.

"Not all the fire engines reached the site of the fire," Robert Kamasi of the Central Jakarta fire department told Antara.

Local people helped fire fighters by carrying up buckets of water to douse the fire.

One man fell from the second floor of one of the burning buildings. He was unhurt, but was taken away as a precaution.

The fire was extinguished around 6 p.m. The cause of the fire has yet to be established. (hhr)