Bellezza not yet ready to operate: Fire department

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If you are in the business of building management, the only question is whether you are ready to operate or not. There is no middle ground, the Jakarta fire department says.

Following the Sunday fire that gutted the lower basement of the Bellezza Shopping Arcade in South Jakarta's Permata Hijau, a fire department officer said the building had not been granted a building utilization permit.

"During field observation, I noticed that the path leading to the basement had not been finished. In fact it's very important for firemen to be able to maneuver easily in and out of the area where the fire is," the department's rescue subdivision head Sunartoyo said Thursday.

He said that further investigation revealed that the Bellezza building had not received a utilization permit, which can only be issued after the department releases a recommendation that all fire protection system have been checked.

"It's similar to the fire that razed the Bank Indonesia building (which killed 15 people in December 1997). The construction had not been completed, but office activities had begun," he said.

Besides suspicions of arson, the fire was worsened by the presence of employees and paper documents inside the Bank Indonesia building while it was still under construction.

In the case of the Bellezza fire, the building's management said it had obtained a partial utilization permit for several levels where cafes and a fitness center had started operation.

"We have yet to gain full utilization permit, but we have received a partial one," Bellezza general manager Rosihan Saad said.

An electrical short circuit caused the fire, burning several storage rooms in the southern part of the building and producing a thick black smoke that quickly spread through the rest of building, hampering the firemen's work.

The fire was put out Monday morning after 38 fire trucks arrived at the scene.

The fire was worsened by the fact that the fire protection system in the store rooms had not been checked, Sunartoyo said.

This was part of the reason why hydrants and the exhaust system for smoke control did not work properly, he added.

Bellezza management admitted that the building's poor ventilation system was the reason why the thick black smoke could not escape the building.

Smoke control is one important feature of dealing with building fires, allowing carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, as well as other toxic gases, to escape the building.

"People rarely die from being burnt during fires. They are mostly asphyxiated by smoke," Sunartoyo said.