Hotel owners, guests, and the community of Padangbai have been left reeling after a fire broke out at the Padangbai Beach Inn Hotel late on Sunday, July 21st.
The fire is believed to have started around 11.30 pm local time, and while there are no reported injuries, the hotel and neighboring restaurant have been decimated by the flames.
The Padangbai Beach Inn Hotel, Kerti Beach Bungalow Hotel, and Padangbai Billabong Restaurant are located on Banjar Segara Beach in the heart of Padangbai Village.
Both hotels were two of the most popular accommodations in the area.
Padangbai is a quiet and relaxed coastal vacation destination and is also home to Padangbai Port, which connects tourists with fast boat services to the Nusa Islands, the Gili Islands, and Lombok.
The fire was first detected by one of the hotel owners, who is reported to have woke up in the night to use the bathroom. There were 19 guests staying at the Padangbai Beach Inn Hotel on Sunday night, all of whom survived the fire without injury, though their escape from the burning building was like something from a horror film.
Guests staying on the second and third floors of the hotel were able to exit the building using stairs or the fire escape routes. They have no option but to slide down an electricity pole next to the building. Terrifying footage shows guests jumping from the second floor of the hotel onto the electricity pole, with community members standing beneath to help break their fall.
The nationalities of the guests staying at the hotels on Sunday night have yet to be confirmed by police and the hotel owners, though footage shows both domestic and international tourists escaping from the burning buildings.
Local authorities have confirmed that Karangasem Regency firefighting units were assisted by the Klungkung firefighter teams, who worked throughout the night to control the blaze. The fire was finally put out at 4 am on Monday morning.
The information collected by Karangasem Firefighters confirms that the buildings affected by the fire were the two-story Kerti Beach Bungalow Hotel, the three-story Padangbai Beach Inn, and Padangbai Billabong Restaurant, which together were made of twenty building units.
It has been confirmed that the Padangbai Beach Inn belongs to I Wayan Sudiasna, while Kerti Beach Bungalow Hotel and Padangbai Billabong Restaurant belong to I Komang Gede Suanda.
The scene was attended by 22 firefighting officers led by the Head of Fire Rescue and Evacuation of the Karangasem Fire Service, Wayan Putu Darma Kartika.
It took over 55,000 liters of water to bring the fire under control.
It is too early to calculate the losses incurred by Sudiasna and Budiarta. Guests who were in the building are believed to have lost most, if not all, of their belongings to the blaze.
Police Chief of the Padangbai Port Area, Kompol I Ketut Merta Kariana, has conducted an investigation and revealed to reporters that he did not yet know the cause of the fire.
He said, “The estimated loss of IDR 5 billion is just that the exact cause of the fire is not yet known; forensic lab officers are still being checked.”
The Denpasar City Fire Department (Damkar) and Rescue have recorded 95 fire cases occurring in Denpasar City only from January – June 2024. Warehouse fires made up the majority of calls out, though teams also recorded house fires, electric fires, and open land fires.
The Head of the Denpasar City Fire and Rescue Service, I Made Tirana, told reporters that Denpasar City currently only has 11 fire trucks, most of which have a capacity of around 6,000 liters.
In 2025, we will see the launch of a central program, where the Denpasar City Fire and Rescue Service is set to receive around 16 small fire trucks with a water tank capacity of around 1,000 liters. The car was a grant from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The limited number of fire trucks on the island is why when big fires break out, such as the incident in Padangbai on Sunday, firefighting teams from neighboring regencies are called in for backup.
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Josh
Thursday 25th of July 2024
Lack of care about health and safety measures costs dearly again! Pure luck prevented physical harm and death this time. Still, nothing will be done elsewhere to prevent another potentially fatal incident.
BaliEyeWitness...
Wednesday 24th of July 2024
"Denpasar City currently only has 11 fire trucks, most of which have a capacity of around 6,000 liters."
Immediately obvious that's totally inadequate. Spending some of this money from the tourist tax that's currently sitting in the bank account somewhere on some vital infrastructure such as more fire engines......?
Paul
Wednesday 24th of July 2024
The people staying there where very lucky y was a sprinkler system not installed as it is in all hotels it should be mandatory in the 21 century
Shorty
Saturday 27th of July 2024
@Sven,
And Paul.
Glass houses and stones. Remember how much housing is cheek to jowl.
Do you have sprinklers or smoke detecters in your house?
My house is jati with an alang alang roof.
For minimal cost I've detecters and a diesel water pump in case the listrik gets cut to the bore. I've also soaker hoses running along the ridge cap.
Sven
Thursday 25th of July 2024
@Paul, they don't even have sprinkler systems in some of the big malls.
When you walk around in the mall, look at the ceilings, no sprinklers. And the escalators are all located far away from each other, so people would walk through the shops. Those all block the walking paths with their products also.
If a fire should break out in such big mall with thousand people inside, they would be absolute death traps. No fire extinguishing systems, escape paths blocked or impossible to find. In a smoke filled place, it would be a dark maze without exists.
In the western countries, fire safety and regulations exist for a reason, because such catastrophes have happened before. Of course in Indonesia doesn't learn anything. It would burn down, they would build it up same, still without proper safety standards.
Exp
Wednesday 24th of July 2024
"Terrifying footage shows guests jumping from the second floor of the hotel onto the electricity pole."
So no available emergency exit in a hotel?
Well I have seen this before e.g. Jakarta office building with padlock on the emergency exit doors for one of the banks there. I have also seen padlock on emergency exit hatches for fast boats in Batam. Just remember; do not trust that your Indonesian hosts care one bit about your safety. Verify on your own and act accordingly.
Shorty
Friday 26th of July 2024
@Exp, What would you suggest for a 3 story small building which has a wide unobstructed staircase? Even an external fire escape is relatively useless unless it's accessible to all internal rooms. Similarly useless if as in this case flames prevent its use
Shorty
Friday 26th of July 2024
@Exp,
The stairway at the Padang Bai Inn is wide and unobstructed. The pole was used because the flames were preventing access .