Jakarta Acting Governor, Heru Budi Hartono presented award certificates to seven firefighters of Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency (Gulkarmat) who were on duty during the fire at the Pertamina Plumpang depot last Friday (3/3). The presentation of the award certificate was held at City Hall, Monday (3/27).

I appreciate all of them for their professionalism, dedication, and courage to take this action

It is known that these seven firefighters challenged death when the disaster occurred by trying to close the depot valve to avoid the flames. In fact, the fire raged violently around them at that time.

“I appreciate all of them for their professionalism, dedication, and courage to take this action. Because not just anyone can do that if they have no a fighting spirit and are willing to sacrifice," he expressed after handing over the award certificate.

Jakarta Gulkarmat Agency Head, Satriadi Gunawan said this award certificate is an honor and becomes an encouragement and motivation for his staff to give the best service to society and be more professional.

"Because we understand that the task we carry out is difficult in relation to meeting basic needs in the humanitarian field, namely support. We also believe that we must be professional, must be ready physically, infrastructure, and SOP, so we will prepare it all," he added.

He explained these seven firefighters had a very decisive contribution, as at that time they were trying to close the fuel line valve which was connected to the other tanks. He is grateful that they were able to handle it well in the midst of a very large blaze and the risks they faced.

"Because there were two burning objects at that time in the settlement and at the depot. The source of the fire was in the depot, they were the ones trying to close the valve. The network that entered the tank caught fire yesterday, if it isn't closed then there will be propagation to the next tank. Thank God, within two hours we were able to control the conditions on the night of the incident," he explained.

According to Acting Governor's directions, the Gulkarmat must synergize more with Pertamina in a bid to develop an operational plan to prevent and anticipate unwanted things from happening again.

"We have coordinated with Pertamina to synergize even more in formulating an operational plan to anticipate undesirable things from happening and we both know who to do what if it happens again," uttered.

He added he deployed 260 firefighters and 53 fire engines to extinguish the blaze when the fire engulfed the Pertamina depot in Plumpang, North Jakarta. There were two burnt objects, namely depot area and settlements.

"We call on the public that what we do, be it a fire or rescue operation, is free of charge. In fact, we need the speed of the information, thus we can immediately handle it," he closed.