Anissa S. Febrina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It can burn you, choke you and kill you. But everyone still seems to love playing with fire.
We often think fire can only get out of control when it razes slums or crowded wet markets. But after two incidents involving fire and smoke this week -- one in a posh mixed-use complex and another in a hypermarket in the Sudirman area, where over a hundred workers were asphyxiated -- we know that's not the case.
The Jakarta Fire Department has reported that a third of the 604 high-rise buildings it surveyed in the capital failed to comply with the standard fire protection system stipulated in a 1992 city bylaw.
That number has barely inched forward from the figure reported by former department head Johnny Pangaribuan in 2004, in which almost half of Jakarta's 542 high-rise buildings lacked proper fire safety systems.
Who is to blame for the widespread flouting of basic fire safety rules?
For the department's fire prevention and protection subdivision head, Syamsir Makmur, the finger should be pointed directly at building owners and managers.
"What we can do, based on the fire protection bylaw, is merely reprimand owners and managers. We check them annually and give them between six months to a year to make the necessary improvements," he said Thursday.
According to Syamsir, most of the buildings that fell short in the survey failed to keep up regular maintenance of their existing fire protection systems, while a fraction of the others had no system at all.
Around two-thirds of the cautioned buildings housed government institutions.
"After the fire at the (state oil and gas company) Pertamina building (in Medan Merdeka, Central Jakarta), we found out that the fire protection equipment there was less than the minimum," Syamsir said.
The remainder of the buildings were privately owned, such as the headquarters of a private television station which failed to install a fire alarm in its taping room; or the apartment building in which the main pump -- the heart of the internal fire extinguishing system -- had not been properly maintained, while the building had no fire escape.
High-rise buildings are required to have at least two main pumps and one jockey pump primed to start automatically when the sprinklers are triggered by the smoke detectors.
Money-saving efforts often include a misleading selection of non-listed fire pump set with thermal-type controllers that stop the pump from running when needed, Indonesian Fire Protection Association (IFPA) director for international affairs Placidus S. Petrus said.
Generally -- depending on the distance of the furthest point from the staircase -- there should also be at least two fire escapes, high-rise designer Ken Yeang wrote in the architecture textbook The Skyscraper.
The escapes must have fire-rated doors to prevent smoke and heat from penetrating the staircase enclosure, creating a clear escape passage and allowing firefighters to move around the building effectively.
"Building owners often neglect proper maintenance. They try to cut costs without knowing the impact of not having a working fire protection system," he said.
A hypermarket in South Jakarta even had its hydrant hidden behind the door, making it invisible and inaccessible, Syamsir added.
Other building operators have blatantly refused to acknowledge fire department officers knocking on their doors, he said.
But in Jakarta, we all know there must be a reason behind everything, including some building managers' refusal to talk to fire department officers.
"Prior to my case being announced, several (fire department) officers came to me and ask for a 'fee' if I didn't want there to be a problem," the building manager of an apartment complex in Central Jakarta told The Jakarta Post.
The manager did not have the minimum fire protection system and the breathing apparatus he had was obsolete. Only after he refused to pay the "fee" was this made official in a warning letter from the department, he said.
"We are now doing what we can within financial constraints to improve safety for our occupants," the building manager said.
"I just dropped by the department office today (Thursday) and once again they asked me for money. You know who we are talking about here," he added.
Another building manager in South Jakarta said "I only stick to one officer to deal with everything."
"Others have also come to me asking (for money) and threatening this and that," he added.
This is all nothing new in this notoriously corrupt city. But when public safety is involved, it should be of paramount concern.
"Prior to using their buildings, owners must obtain a recommendation from the fire agency that their (fire protection) system works well," Petrus from IFPA said.
Beside the corrupt officers, developers should also share part of the blame.
"The fire protection system might look good on paper, but during construction, cheaper systems are often brought in," Petrus said.
According to the head of the fire department's rescue subdivision, Sunartoyo, fire protection systems account for as much as 20 percent of the total utility cost of a building.
For developers, stating compliance with international standards like the United States' NFPA is often a marketing gimmick.
Petrus has warned such developers to immediately rescind such marketing statements, especially if they violate any of NFPA Codes and Standards that were adopted as Standard Nasional Indonesia (SNI).
So what's the root of our fire protection problem? The rupiahs people can save for turning a blind eye; or the rupiahs others can get through corrupt enforcement?
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