A fire raged at the headquarters of Indonesia's state-owned gas and oil company for hours Monday, gutting the top three floors of the Jakarta skyscraper before it was finally extinguished. No one was injured in the fire that began at 4 a.m. and raged for more than seven hours, said Pertamina's spokesman Mohamad Harun, who had no immediate information about the cause. Thirty-six fire trucks, nearly 200 firefighters and three helicopters were used to fight the blaze, which sent flames and dark plumes of smoke shooting from the 19th, 20th and 21st floors, home to the management offices, officials said. Minister of State Enterprises Sugiharto said the fire didn't harm any data crucial to Pertamina's business and one analyst said, even if it did, it should not impact Indonesia's import or export operations. «Pertamina will have back-up data in other locations,» said Kurtubi, chairman for the Center of Petroleum & Energy Economic Studies, according to a report of the Associated Press. The chief of Jakarta's fire department, Martono, said the fire apparently started on the 19th floor of the building and then climbed up. It appeared that the fire detection system malfunctioned, he said.
