Firemen extinguishing the fire on the second floor.
The fire on the third floor of the supermarket.
TAWAU: A fire that started from Century Supermarket at Sabindo Square here almost reached the Umno Tawau office at midnight on Sunday.
District Fire and Rescue Department station chief Rudy Fredzex said the department received a call at 11.39pm and 19 firemen in three fire engines reached the scene at 11.41pm.
He said five shops on the ground floor were saved and on the second floor, two out of eight shops were saved, while all the lots on the third floor were destroyed.
They managed to control the fire at 3.34am and the operation ended at 7.43am.
The Umno Tawau office is located at the other end of the row of shops and firemen aided by strong water pressure were able to put out the spreading fire.
Rudy said the cause of the fire and losses wwere still being investigated.