A fire broke out at Pasar Gembrong toy market and among nearby houses in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, on Tuesday evening, injuring one person and destroying 40 houses and nine toy stores.

The injured victim, who suffered from fractured bones after jumping from the second floor of a store to save himself, was brought to Persahabatan Hospital in the municipality.

East Jakarta Fire Agency operational head Mulyanto said on Wednesday that the fire broke out on Tuesday at around 9 p.m. and was extinguished less than three hours later by 29 fire trucks.

'€œWe had difficulty in extinguishing the fire because it was difficult to get water from the nearby Cipinang River, which was dry. We had to use watery mud from the river,'€ Mulyanto said, adding that the fire caused financial losses worth Rp 800 million (US$59,128) to Rp 1 billion.

Pasar Gembrong is well known for offering various plastic toys and soft toys at bargain prices. In 2013, the city administration recorded 212 street vendors at the market.

As of Wednesday afternoon, a number of vendors were still trying to collect the remains of their store products, which were mostly dolls and toys.

As many as 120 residents who were affected by the fire stayed in two evacuation tents provided by the East Jakarta Police and the Jatinegara district office, as well as at a nearby mosque.

One of them, 45-year-old toy seller Asih, said she lost her house in the fire and had nothing left but the clothing she was wearing.

'€œI was bathing when people started to scream. I grabbed my clothes and when I got out of the bathroom, the fire was already big. I couldn'€™t do anything except take my three grandchildren to get out of the house,'€ she said.

East Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Umar Farouq said the fire was allegedly caused by burning trash.

'€œFire from trash burning under the bridge touched an electrical cable, leading to a short circuit,'€ Umar told reporters at the location on Wednesday morning.

Burning trash under the bridge, he said, was considered negligence.

'€œJust because their houses are near the river, it doesn'€™t mean they can burn the trash there. There were many electrical cables hanging under the bridge, which directly served the houses,'€ Umar said.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Sanitation Agency head Isnawa Adji blamed the residents'€™ bad habit of burning trash, saying that they did not comply with the subdistrict regulations about trash collection.

'€œWe have warned them many times not to burn the trash. If the residents have problems with piling garbage, they can report it to us,'€ Isnawa told to The Jakarta Post over the phone.

Cipinang Besar Utara subdistrict head Sri Sundari also echoed Isnawa, saying that she had instructed the residents to bring their trash to the bridge to be collected by her office'€™s contract workers. However, the residents did not listen to her order, she said. Bylaw No. 3/2013 on waste management clearly prohibits trash burning, but to date no residents have faced punishment for committing the action.

Jatinegara district head Syofian said only residents with land ownership certificates would be allowed to rebuild their houses.

'€œThose who don'€™t have certificates will not be allowed to rebuild their houses, as the land will be used for river normalization,'€ he said.

Kompas.com reported that unidentified people stole goods from the market'€™s stores during the fire. Saim, 50, one of the vendors, said some people pretended to help him save his dolls from the fire, but they quietly fled the scene with his merchandise. (foy)

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