F

ifty-two conflagrations occurred in Jakarta from July 9 to 17, an official has revealed.

Fire Agency community empowerment and participation chief Abdul Chair said that the fires were mostly caused by electrical short circuits. Others, he said, were caused by gas stove explosions.

During the month of Ramadhan, Abdul said, there had been a total of 155 fires and total losses of Rp 43.8 billion (US$3.27 million). The figure, he said, was significantly higher than last year'€™s 79 cases of fire and Rp 15.6 billion in losses during the same period.

'€œAfter an evaluation, we have concluded that officials at the district and subdistrict levels have failed to optimize efforts to familiarize residents with fire prevention,'€ Abdul said over the phone on Wednesday. He added that all stakeholders should participate in preventing fires, and that the agency would cooperate with relevant institutions to teach residents the basics of fire prevention.