Cilacap, Central Java. With a fire at its largest refinery spreading, Pertamina has asked for additional tons of foam and more firefighters to battle the blaze as it entered a second day.

"We have prepared 40 tons of foam and five tons of it will soon be sent from Jakarta. I hope it will be enough," the state-owned energy company`s corporate secretary Hari Karyuliarto told reporters late Saturday.

He said the foam would be dissolved in water around the location of the fire in Refinery Unit IV in Cilacap. He said reinforcements would bring the total of firefighters battling the fire to 71.

He admitted that another tank close to Tank 31 T-02 had also been burned due to strong winds, bringing the total to two.

"The burned tank is Tank 31-T03. The other two meanwhile have already been filled with foam," he said.

In a statement late Saturday, however, Pertamina said a third tank, 31-T7, had begun burning.

The company said national fuel stocks are not affected by the blaze. Under normal circumstances, Cilacap supplies fuel to Yogyakarta and Bandung via a pipeline. Pertamina said it has prepared a backup plan using a tanker ship to carry fuel to the main terminal supplying Yogyakarta and Bandung.

Hari would not speculate about losses from the blaze, saying the company was concentrating on putting it out.

He said the villages around the refinery were safe and he called on the people to remain calm and follow police instructions.

"We will try to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible. The faster the better," he said.

Central Java police chief Inspector General Edward Aritonang said police had already prepared access for vehicles carrying additional foam so that they could reach the location quickly.

He said the police did not know what caused the fire.

"We will send a forensic team to investigate it," he said.

The fire at Tank 31-T02 began at 4.55 a.m. Saturday.

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