Fire Rages 50 Houses in Menteng during Major Outage
Translator
Dewi Elvia Muthiariny
Editor
Petir Garda Bhwana
Senin, 5 Agustus 2019 11:49 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As many as 50 houses in a densely populated area on Jalan Menteng Atas Selatan III, Central Jakarta were burnt down on Sunday evening, August 4. The fire was believed to come from lighted candles during a power outage as it spread to flammable materials in one of the houses.
“It caused by candles,” said Sugeng, head of South Jakarta Firefighters Unit, in a written statement, Monday, August 5.
Candles are one of the alternative tools used by Jakarta people for lighting during a blackout. As previously reported, almost all areas of the capital city were paralyzed from Sunday afternoon, August 4 until late at night.
Fourteen fire trucks were mobilized to put out the fire that was started at 20:34 Jakarta time. According to Sugeng, it had successfully been extinguished at 22:45.
One person was killed, and one other suffered severe injuries. Also, 90 families or 350 people were evacuated.
However, the total loss due to the fire has yet to be known since officers are still recording data. “We are still asking for confirmation and registering,” said Sugeng.
M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH
