Fire destroys over 30 houses at Pulau Gaya

KOTA KINABALU: More than 2,000 people have been made homeless when fire destroyed more than 30 wooden houses in Kampung Pondo, a water village at Pulau Gaya, here yesterday.

The fire was believed to have started at around 12.30pm from one of the houses and spread quickly due to the presence of strong winds yesterday afternoon.

Thick black smoke could be seen billowing in the area of the village punctuated reportedly by several loud explosions believed to be from exploding gas cylinders.

No casualties were however reported in the incident.

Fire and Rescue Services Department public relation officer, Senior Assistant Superintendent Mohd Affendy Ramin, said the department received a distress call at 12.48pm and several firefighting teams were immediately deployed to the scene.

“We deployed to the area in several boats and our men managed to put the fire under control by 1.37pm,” he said, adding that the whole operation ended about an hour later.

Mohd Affendy said the cause of the fire and total loss was still under investigation.