As the fire at Pertamina's refinery in Cilacap, Central Java, continued to burn out of control on Tuesday, thousands of nearby residents were evacuated.
As of Tuesday afternoon, as many as 1,300 people – mostly women, children and the elderly – – had been evacuated. Most evacuees are residents of Lomanis and Donan villages, which are located about 500 meters from the refinery.
According to Cilacap Police Chief Sr. Comr. Rudi Darmoko, the evacuation was carried out at the request of the state-owned oil and gas firm for safety reasons.
"The residents have been evacuated to four locations: To the Holcim Indonesia compound in Cilacap, the multifunction hall at Lomanis village, the Cilacap Police compound and Cilacap district office," he said.
The village chiefs from Lomanis and Donan said the number of evacuees would rise if the fire was not soon extinguished.
According to the head of the Cilacap Health Office, Bambang Setyono, some elderly people had begun to show signs of trauma. "About 80 people so far have shown acute signs of distress," he said. Temperature in the area had also soared, he added.
Health officials have instructed five government clinics in the area to be on 24-hour standby.
Pertamina had earlier said it had extinguished the blaze at the 31-T7 naphtha storage tank but for unclear reasons the fire had reignited by the afternoon. According to a statement from Pertamina, up to 3,500 gallons a minute of foam retardant was sprayed that morning to help put out the fire.
Strong winds in the area have also prompted fears that the fire may spread to a nearby storage tank, 32-T104.
Wianda Pusponegoro, Pertamina's media relations manager, said the wind had been hampering efforts to extinguish the flames because it dispersed the foam retardant.
The blaze began at about 4 a.m. on Saturday when three tanks containing around 10,000 kiloliters of high-octane mogas component, an additive used to make Premium fuel, caught fire in Unit IV of the facility.
This is the second such incident at the refinery after an explosion in January 2010 led to part of the plant being shut down.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday ordered the blaze be brought under control by Tuesday morning.
Pertamina on Monday said it had enough inventory to supply West and Central Java provinces even with the refinery's closure. (Antara, Bloomberg)