Bali Villa Fire

I have just watched a very frightening U-tube video of a fire that took place in Seminyak, Bali. And it reminded me a similar situation that I experienced. So I thought I would relate the incident.

I was at a friend’s party In Seminyak. It was a small affair as my friend was a tourist and she wasn’t traveling with a large group of friends. Also at the party was a good friends Indonesian wife. My friend had been unable to attend and he had asked if I could accompany Putri and make sure she got home safely.

At some stage during the night Putri approached me and to ask if she could chat outside. I was involved in a conversation and I feared I would get caught up in a soppy chat involving problems with her relationship. So I postponed the conversation. Putri was insistent however, she decided to wait at my side until I had finished talking. Eventually I relented and I broke off my conversation. I then followed Putri to the front door of the villa.

When we were outside, I asked my Putri what she wanted to talk about.  She then calmly directed me around a wall that was blocking my view and pointed towards a villa two lots down from us. The villa was obviously on fire. Smoke was billowing out from the thatched roof and flames could be seen licking over the far side of the building. Sparks were also being carried on the wind and flying everywhere. I was instantly alert. The building was twenty meters from where we were attending the party. And our villa had the very same flammable roof.

I told Putri to start knocking on doors and warning people. And I ran inside to tell everyone to get out of the building. My friends and I then scuttled around and sounded the alarm. Thankfully, fire trucks eventually arrived and the fire was contained.

While we were standing in the car park deciding if it was safe to return to our villa. I asked Putri why she didn’t just scream fire and warn everyone. Putri replied that she didn’t think it was important enough to interrupt the party. “It was only a fire,” she said. Putri is an intelligent woman. But when she said this I couldn’t help but wonder if they teach fire safety in Indonesians schools.

Due to Bali’s poor roads and high traffic congestion and magnified by of a lack of adequate training and equipment, the outbreak of a fire in Bali can be a very dangerous situation.  The u-tube video of the fire can be viewed on the Bali Raw face book page. www.fb.com/baliraw

©Malcolm Scott