Jakarta (ANTARA) – North Jakarta and Thousand Islands Fire Department firefighter team rescued 53 people from a burning apartment in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, on Sunday evening (Sept 20).
The fire department’s operations chief, Gatot Sulaeman, disclosed the occupants rescued from the fire, which occurred at Teluk Intan Apartment, comprise 21 adult males, 24 adult females, seven children, and an elderly person.
“The fire started from an electric panel on the 8th floor before spreading to the 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th floors in the apartment. An electrical short circuit is suspected to cause the fire, which we estimate to incur up to Rp1.5 billion in losses,” he said.
According to witnesses, he added, officers from the apartment management had attempted to extinguish the flame in the 5th floor’s electric panel with a portable fire extinguisher.
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However, the attempt failed and the fire spread to other floors in the apartment building. Residents then called the fire department for assistance.
“We deployed 16 units of fire trucks with 80 firefighters to help extinguish the flame,” he noted.
The firefighters arrived at Teluk Intan Apartment and promptly began their operation at 6:45 p.m. As they fought the flame, they also assisted in evacuating occupants in affected units.
“The fire was successfully brought under control at 8:38 p.m. and residents were safely evacuated,” Sulaeman said.
He also confirmed there were no casualties in the fire.
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Translator: Mario Sofia Nasution, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fransiska Ninditya
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