Forensic fire investigators are still not sure of the exact cause of the giant fire that devastated Pasar Badung, Bali’s biggest traditional market, in Feb. 2016.
Head of the Forensics Laboratory (Kalabfor) for Denpasar Police Headquarters, Chief Commissioner Koesndi says his team has traced the fire to the first floor of the massive Pasar Badung.
Koesndi says his team has been gathering evidence about the fire since the day after the fire struck the market. A crime scene was designated all the way up to the fourth floor of the market.
“We started to work the day after the fire, when the fire was extinguished. For two full days we worked ‘all out’. I must explain that we investigated from floor one to four,” he told Tribun Bali on Tuesday.
From the level of damage on each floor, the forensic team was apparently able to conclude that the fire originated from the first floor.
“The original location of the fire has been discovered as the bottom floor. On the north side, from the seventh beam from the north. The most severe fire damage was found on the west pillar of the building,” he explained.
But even though the location of the fire has been pinpointed, Koesnadi remained reluctant to identify the cause of the fire and get into whether it was intentional or from negligence.
“Let’s wait and see from the investigators examining witnesses.”
