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Gasoline goes up in flames at fuel depot
Great balls of fire: A raging fire engulfs one of the fuel tanks at state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina’s main fuel storage facility in Plumpang, North Jakarta, on Sunday night
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Great balls of fire: A raging fire engulfs one of the fuel tanks at state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina’s main fuel storage facility in Plumpang, North Jakarta, on Sunday night. Explosions caused by the fire were heard some 10 kilometers away, residents said. JP/RICKY YUDHISTIRA
A storage tank of Premium fuel was destroyed in a raging fire Sunday night at the Pertamina fuel depot in Plumpang, North Jakarta.
Pertamina spokesman Anang Rizkani Noor said the fire broke out at Pertamina’s storage tank number 24, which contained 2,500 kiloliters of Premium gasoline — equal to 500 tankers.
“Now we’re focusing on putting out the fire so it cannot spread to other tanks,” he said, adding that the cause of the fire was still unclear.
Plumpang depot is responsible for supplying fuel to Greater Jakarta, which uses 9,420 kiloliters of Premium gasoline and 4,677 kiloliters of diesel fuel per day.
Anang said Jakarta’s fuel supply would be provided from other storage tanks in the depot and that there was sufficient stock to meet the city’s needs.
Neither the police nor the fire department has released official information on the suspected cause of the fire, and no casualties have been reported.
Eyewitnesses said they heard a large explosion before the fire, although some reported the fire started at around 7:30 p.m., while others said it started at 9:30 p.m.
Despite dispatching dozens of fire engines to the scene, the city fire department had difficulty bringing the fire under control with flames reaching heights of more than 100 meters.
The fire was reported to be getting bigger as it burned through the gasoline, threatening nearby residential areas and causing the residents to evacuate.
Bobby, an eyewitness who lives in a residential area 500 meters from the depot, said he could see the fire from his house.
The freeway and artery roads near the depot were congested because of motorists stopping to look at the fire.
