Jakarta high-rise buildings prone to fire
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 04/23/2011 6:56 PM
Old age and the absence of fire safety equipment was the reason that more than one-third of buildings in Jakarta were prone to fire.
“For example, they do not have proper fire hoses,” Jakarta Fire Department chief Paimin Napitupulu said on Saturday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
He mentioned that some state-owned buildings like the National Library building and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry building, which are more than 70 years old, are susceptible to fire.
Paimin said that 35 percent of Jakarta’s buildings were poorly maintained, including the Tamara Center on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Central Jakarta, which was damaged by fire Thursday.
He said that Tamara Center’s fire safety equipment had been problematic since 2005. The building management had been reprimanded by the administration twice but had ignored the warning.
Paimin said his firefighters found the Tamara Center fire one of the hardest to extinguish.
He said that his office had to deploy four teams to put out the fire and rescue victims, since most emergency exit doors were locked.
He said his agency would impose harsh sanctions on the building’s management in connection to the incident.
