Mystery of the Unburned Stall in a Mass Fire in South Jakarta Solved

TheIndonesia.id - The South Jakarta Administration of Fire and Rescue (Gulkarmat) Sub-department said that compartmentalization was one of the factors that caused the stalls at Simprug Golf II, South Grogol, to not catch fire, even though hundreds of other houses were burned down. That stall or what Indonesians call Warung Tegal (Warteg) still stands steadily amid burned houses that surround it.

"Because it is compartmentalized, it is protected from potential fire propagation. Look at the building that protects the warteg, how is the construction of the building," said South Jakarta Fire and Rescue Piket Officer, Deni Andreas, when contacted, Jakarta, Wednesday, August 24, 2022.

Andreas explained that fire compartmentalization is the boundary or separation of buildings based on the level of fire resistance in the building. The shop building named "Warung Brebes Pesona Dua Putri" is made of light or heavy bricks on all sides of the house which are fire-resistant. So these factors make the shop remain firmly protected even though the house around it is on fire, he said.

Unlike the others, the hundreds of houses burned down because there was no compartmentalization or not all of them were made of light brick (locals call it hebel) and most of them used semi-permanent materials such as wood.

According to Andreas, one of the solutions, if they want to rebuild houses, is that residents must understand the science of compartmentalization in house construction. Residents must create a compartment for the building itself so that if there is a source of fire, the house can be protected by itself, he continued.

"So if you want to build another village to be safe from big fires, make sure the more compartments the better the building," he said.