18 families lose longhouse to fire
by James Ling, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 22, 2012, Wednesday
KAPIT: Eighteen families were made homeless in an afternoon fire that destroyed 28-door Rumah Sudin at Nanga Sipan about 10 minutes’ boat ride below Song town yesterday afternoon.
Song District Officer Galong Luang when contacted said Rumah Sudin comprised two blocks parallel to each other: left block comprising 18 doors or families and right block housing 10 families.
Both are separated by a 30-foot passageway. Each block was made from wood and stood on stilts. The block razed to the ground was the left one, leading to Sipan River.
According to Galong, the fire began at 1.55pm yesterday when most longhouse folks were heading for Song town to collect the BR1M government aid being distributed that day.
He said no casualty was reported apart from the loss of properties and personal belongings. The cost of damage was yet to be ascertained.
Galong said initial investigation revealed that the fire could have been started by a child playing with a lighter that ignited the mattress, the flames spreading to the rest of the room, before engulfing whole houses and reducing them to ashes within minutes.
“Upon being notified of the fire, our voluntary firefighting unit from Song rushed to the scene but it was too late as the whole longhouse was ablaze and turned to ashes,” he said.
He said their office and various government agencies sprung into action to provide the fire victims with aid including food. According to Galong, the longhouse block on the right was spared as was a third longhouse, Rumah Austin Ikau, about 30 feet away.
