TANGERANG, Banten: For more than a week, the rundown hall of Tanjakan Mekar village office was home to over 200 residents forced to flee their homes after fire engulfed a massive landfill in their neighbourhood 30km west of Jakarta."It was so hard to breathe. My throat hurt and my eyes stung," said Fitriah, 34, a housewife who sought refuge there with her two children.Life at the shelter was hard. Shifting winds occasionally carried the toxic haze into the evacuation centre.At night, sleep was elusive. Families lay side by side on thin mats, worrying about the homes they had left behind, their belongings, and whether the flames would creep even closer.
The Jatiwaringin landfill in Tangerang regency caught fire on Jun 30 and spread to around 15ha of the 33ha site. That is equivalent to about 22 football fields burning.For days, some 300 firefighters and volunteers battled the fire round the clock and 19 fire engines, four water tank trucks and three helicopters were deployed, shuttling back and forth collecting and dousing thousands of litres of water from the ground and above.
A child at the Tanjakan Mekar village office, where residents took shelter from the Jatiwaringin landfill fire. (Photo: CNA/Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
