12 houses destroyed in morning fire

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THE MORNING AFTER: What’s left of the village after the fire.

MATU: Fire destroyed 12 houses in the Melanau settlement of Kampung Tian, here early yesterday, rendering 37 people homeless.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the inferno, which started at 1.15 am.

Fire and Rescue Dept (Mukah) chief of operations, Senior Fire Officer 1 Abdul Rasit Morni said that four other houses were damaged by the fire.

“When we arrived at the scene, nine houses had been destroyed. Three more houses went down as we fought to control the blaze. The absence of fire hydrants in the village forced us to draw water from a river to fight the fire,” he said.

He said that after they received a distress call at 3.15am they immediately dispatched six firemen led by Azman Amit to the scene, arriving there at 5.09am.

Rasit said the village was located more than 100km from the fire station and firemen had to cross a river by ferry to get to the village.

Department of Civil Defence personnel from Daro also rushed to the scene to fight the fire.

Personnel from Sesco also rushed to the scene to disconnect the electricity supply.

“The fire was finally put out at 7.40 am,” he said.

On possible cause of the fire, Rasit said it started from the kitchen of one of the burnt houses.

“However, we are investigating to determine the real cause (of the fire) and the total loss ascertained.”