Eight Killed in Palmerah Inferno

Eight people died and one escaped when a fire broke out in a two-story boardinghouse in Palmerah, West Jakarta, on Thursday January 8. the building was the largest to be destroyed in the last three years. It had taken 14 fire trucks two hours to extinguish the fire. The people who died were Radian, 29, Ferlina, 25, Eri, 24, Adrianto, 28, Sudirman, 31, Sucipto, 29, and Khairudin and Syamsi Ramadhan, whose ages were not revealed. The only survivor was Wahyuni.Eri, who died in the Palmerah fire was reported to have been eight months pregnant and was going to go back to her hometown in Jepara, Central Java, soon to give birth.

I think this was a total disaster for people in Palmerah. Of course no one expected a fire to happen but this fire had destroyed a large building and it killed eight people. I feel sorry for the relatives of those who died, because they died tragically.

Question:

1. What do you think caused the fire?
2. What could be done by people in Palmerah next time so that a fire like this will not happen again?

Source: Christanto, Dicky. “Eight killed in Palmerah inferno.” The Jakarta Post. 09 January 2009. Page 1. Vol 26.