Incident Report

Subject:                     Fire Breaks Out at Pertamina Fuel Depot

Date of Email report:   Wed 20/01/2010

Report Detail:

Fire broke at a Pertamina fuel depot in West Nusa Tenggara province, sparking panic among residents around the facility. A 4.700 kiloliter fuel tanker containing about 50 kiloliter of gasoline at the Ampenan depot exploded at around 10:30 am local time (+8 GMT) and quelled around 1 pm local time.  City authorities sent seven fire trucks supported by three trucks from Lombok Barat and Selaparang Airport, and four police water canon vehicles. Two firefighters sustanied burn injuries.  The fire occurred during a fuel transfer from the exploded tank to tank number nine. Preliminary suspicion was that the fire was prompted by a spark at one of the filling station.  Residents around the station flee their homes in a rush carrying some of their belonging as far as one kilometer ater the fire grew larger. "Thousands were running toward opposite directions, some were running away some were running toward the facility to see the fire,” Rido, a Mataram resident said. Head of the Operational Division of Ampenan depot Suherman, the Mayor of Mataram Moh. Ruslan, and Chief of the Mataram Resort Police Adjutant Senior Commissioner monitoring he incident from a safe distance. Adj. Sen.  Comm Suneka said police is yet to determine the cause of the fire while head of the operational division of the facility Suherman said the facility still has about 3,000 kiloliters of gasoline and that daily consumption for Lombok island was about 600 – 650 kiloliters.

Additional Documentation:

A tank at PT Pertamina`s fuel depot in Ampenan, Mataram, which has been on fire sicne 11.00 am local time is feared to explode as the fire has reached the top of the tank.  The tank contains about ten kiloliters of premium gasoline, while about four or five other fuel tanks at the depot are also feared to catch fire.  Six fire trucks are on location to try to extinguish the raging fire but with little success so far while local people living around the depot have begun to worry that the fire would spread to their houses.   A number of police officers are on guard at the site to prevent people from coming too close to the fuel tank fire.  Half an hour after the fire started, two firefighters were taken to the nearest hospital after being injured by flames from the fire.