Storage unit goes up in smoke

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Firefighters in the process of bringing the fire under control.

Firefighters in the process of bringing the fire under control.

Thick clouds of smoke billow up as the storage unit burns. — Photos by Lai Kui Hong

Thick clouds of smoke billow up as the storage unit burns. — Photos by Lai Kui Hong

KUCHING: Fire destroyed a storage unit along Jalan Padungan here yesterday but no casualties were reported.

State Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) Kuching Zone chief Tiong Ling Hii said his men arrived at the scene at 3.46pm, three minutes after receiving a distress call.

Firefighters managed to bring the fire under control within 40 minutes and no nearby structure was affected, he said when met by reporters at the scene.

According to Tiong, the fire seemed to have been going for quite some time by the time his men reached there. He opined that the department could have prevented the unit from being completely destroyed if the distress call had been placed as soon as the fire began.

“By the time we got here, the fire appeared to be strong, but luckily it had yet to spread to the adjacent unit. If members of the public had called us earlier like when the fire first started, we would have been able to save more.”

He added that this also applied to a number of fire incidents which happened here recently.

One of the incidents was the Oct 29 fire which destroyed a few facilities at SMK St Teresa including the school hall and staff room.

Tiong hoped that the department could be alerted at the earliest possible stage of any untoward incidents in the near future. On the burnt storage unit, he said the owner kept furniture like chairs and home decoration items in it.

Responding to a question, he said the smoke grew thicker due to the items that were on fire inside the unit. He added that the department needed time to go through the scene in order to determine the cause of fire.

A total of 30 firefighters from three Bomba stations namely Padungan, Batu Lintang and Tabuan Jaya were dispatched to the scene yesterday.