Three houses in Gang Melati, Jalan Nanas, RT 01/04, Utan Kayu Selatan Urban Village, Matraman Sub-District, East Jakarta, burned after caught in fire, Friday (4/11). There is no casualty reported in the incident, but the loss reaches more than Rp 325 million.

The fire came from Mr. Busro’s house, started with thick smoke from 2nd floor. Everyone was panic and immediately saved their valuables

Based on the information gathered, fire came out from two-story house belongs to Busro (77). Allegedly, the fire was triggered by electricity short-circuit in a bedroom on the 2nd floor, which then quickly enlarged and spread to the house’s roof. Luckily, the house inhabitants were downstairs when it happened.

Sugiono (50), a local who saw the fire for the first time, instantly screamed. Hearing it, the house inhabitants panicked and scrambled outside to save their life as well as evacuate valuable items.

“ The fire came from Mr. Busro’s house, started with thick smoke from 2nd floor. Everyone was panic and immediately saved their valuables . Some people were busy putting out the flames, but they failed due to lack of water resources,” he told, Friday (4/11).

Within minutes, fire destroyed three houses. Those houses belong to Busro, Thamrin (40), and Mulyadi (45). There are 14 people living in those houses.

According to Head of East Jakarta Fire and Disaster Handling Sub-Department, Mulyanto, firemen managed to control the fire in about one hour after 17 fire trucks deployed to the scene. They had difficulties to put out the flames due to hard access.

“There are many portals, that’s why we had difficulties to extinguish the fire. And since the fire location is in a densely populated area that cannot be passed by car, we had to use eight hoses extended in a row,” he finished.