Vera Handayani grimaced when a medic smeared ointment on her forehead, which had been exposed to flames during fire-prevention and safety training in front of Pekojan subdistrict office in Tambora, West Jakarta, on Sunday afternoon.

'€œI failed to cover the flames with a wet gunnysack. The fire swooped down to my face when I tried the second time,'€ said the mother of two.

Although the fire had singed her hair and eyebrows, Vera said she would try again to ensure she fully understood the right way to extinguish fire with a wet cloth.

'€œI need to prepare myself, if heaven forbid, my house catches fire again,'€ she said.

Vera learned the hard way of the need for fire safety awareness, as her house was burned down in 2010.

'€œThe firefighters came late while we did not know what to do,'€ she said.

She added that most residents tried to rescue their family members and belongings, instead of putting out the fire.

Vera and around 300,000 other residents live in Tambora, the most densely populated district in the capital, which is known as a fire-prone area.

Knowing the area'€™s vulnerability to fires, Tambora residents have been arming themselves with knowledge and training on a fire-prevention and safety program.

As many as 1,650 fire task force members have been formed in 15 community units (RW).

Besides being trained how to handle fire with simple tools like wet gunnysacks and fire extinguishers, the members also studied fire itself, the chemical substance of fire extinguishers and safe electrical installations.

Jakarta Fire Department chief Subejo revealed that since the training was launched at the beginning of the year, the number of fire incidents that could be handled solely by residents had significantly increased.

Subejo said the number of fire incidents in Tambora had also decreased from 43 in 2012 to 24 in 2013.

'€œHowever, 67 percent of fires in 2013 were handled by residents. This is way higher than the previous year, which was only 23 percent,'€ he said.

Subejo attributed the high resident participation to intensive training and the donation of fire extinguishing equipment by the department and the Djarum Foundation to the task force members.

Subejo said the task force had reduced the department'€™s work as it was undermanned, with only around 2,900 personnel for the whole city.

A task-force member from the first batch of training, 38-year-old Nurlela, said she had actively helped firefighters when her neighborhood was ablaze.

'€œWe used to run when fire affected our neighborhood. But now, we know how to handle it,'€ she said, adding simple procedures '€” like turning off the electricity and covering fire with a wet cloth '€” were helpful in preventing fires from spreading.

Nurlela said if the fire was already too big, residents usually helped firefighters by clearing access routes for fire trucks, looking for water resources and calming down victims.

Nurlela said besides handling the fire, she had also learned about preventive measures.

'€œI fixed my electrical installations at home by myself,'€ she said, adding that she had only needed to change the old wires and monitor them.

The agency recorded that 60 percent of fires were caused by the careless usage of electricity and faulty wiring.

Djarum Foundation social grant program manager Budi Darmawan said he hoped the task force could spread its knowledge of fire prevention to other residents.

Budi said his foundation would conduct the same training in other fire-prone areas, like Penjaringan in North Jakarta.

As many as 56 areas in Jakarta are classified as fire-prone, with most located in densely populated districts.

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