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- The wooden house engulfed in fire.
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- The elderly woman, Maimunah, seen praying and comforted by nearby residents and family members.
MIRI: An elderly woman and her grandson managed to escape unscathed from an early morning fire that destroyed their wooden family house at Kampung Merikan Lutong yesterday.
Another semi-concrete house nearby was partly destroyed.
Maimunah Abat in her 90s said the incident occurred about 8.40 am when she was inside the house and saw fire broke out from the kitchen after which she started screaming for help.
“I screamed api-api, rumah angus (fire-fire, house on fire) inside the house to alert the occupants, “ Maimunah said to The Borneo Post yesterday.
Disclosing the ordeal, Maimunah said she screamed to her grandson Mohd Shafiq Padil who was still sleeping at one of the rooms.
Later both of them rushed out to safety.
She said even though she couldn’t run fast she managed to flee out from the engulfing fire which started from the kitchen and also alerted the neighbour nearby.
She said the fire started to spread very fast giving her no time to get her belongings inside the house.
The other family members were away either at work or in the city when the incident happened and luckily no one was hurt, she related praying and crying still in disbelief of the tragedy.
Mohd Shafiq said he was sleeping at the time of incident and only heard a soft scream from his grandmother.
“I heard my grandmother screaming and immediately rushed out from my bed and brought her away from the engulfing fire,” he disclosed.
The other family members, after being informed of the fire, rushed back only to watch helplessly as their house burned to the ground.
The owners of two other houses located nearby managed to use water hoses to spray their roofs and walls and were lucky as the wind was blowing the fire away from their houses.
Concerned residents and nearby Oil and Gas personnel contacted Miri Fire and Rescue Department and Petronas Carigali Fire Department (MCOT)
One fire engine from Petronas Carigali (Mcot) arrived at the scene at about 8 50am with its personnel to combat the spreading fire.
Three fire engines from Miri Fire and Rescue Department and thirteen firemen also rushed to the scene after receiving emergency call from a member of the public.
According to its operation officer, Terry Robson, when they reached the scene, the wooden house was already burnt down but the firemen managed to control the fire from spreading to nearby houses.
Loss to property and actual cause of the fire has yet to be ascertained.