KUCHING: An octogenerian and her family were left homeless when a fire destroyed their 60-year-old house in Kampung Gersik yesterday.
ALL GONE: Firemen douse what remains of Raesah’s house.
No injuries were reported in the 11.30am incident which caused the family to lose all of their belongings as well important personal documents.
At the time of the incident, 83-year-old Raesah Man was at home together with her 24-year-old granddaughter Rashida Rabzi.
Raesah had moved to the village with her husband and two young children about 60 years ago.
Her son, Kamal Rosli, 42, his wife Hashimah Johari, 43, their three children and a relative were either away at work or at school at the time of the incident.
Kamal and his wife are both teachers at SK Matu Baru in Bintawa.
Rashida told reporters that she was surfing the Internet together with a male friend when she smelled smoke coming from the upper floor of the two-storey semi-wooden house.
“I went to check and saw thick smoke coming out from the bedroom of my 14-year-old cousin Nur Syazwani Kamal.
“I immediately rushed back down and alerted everyone to get out of the house,” said Rashida, a college graduate who moved here three months ago from Miri in search of a job.
The fire rapidly engulfed all parts of the house but fortunately did not spread to other nearby structures, including SK Kampung Gersik.
Fire fighters from Petra Jaya, Batu Lintang and Padungan fire stations were quickly deployed to the scene and took several minutes to control the situation before extinguishing the fire.
Hashimah, meanwhile, said she was unable to estimate the family’s losses but believed it to be substantial.
Pantai Damai assemblyman Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi was also present at the scene to console to distraught family.
The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Fire Department.