Thick black smoke billowing from Kampung Numbak, Sepangar where fire destroyed about 22 houses yesterday.
Robota relieved that her children are safe.
KOTA KINABALU: More than 100 people were made homeless when fire destroyed about 22 wooden houses at a water village in Sepangar, near here, yesterday.
The fire at at Kampung Numbak, which is believed to have started at around 1.30pm, spread quickly as most of the wooden houses were built very close together.
One of the victims, Robota Ismailing, 31, said she had earlier gone to visit a relative and left her two children, aged eight months and nine years old, to themselves at home.
“While at my relative’s house, we heard people yelling fire. I immediately rushed home to get my children out of the house,” she said, when met at the scene yesterday.
Robota said she called the Fire and Rescue Department, which sent a big team that arrived about half an hour later.
Meanwhile, Sabah Fire and Rescue Department deputy director, Zuraidah Latip, said about 30 firemen from the Fire and Rescue Department, Sabah Civil Defence (JPAM) and volunteer firefighters from Sepangar were involved in the operation.
“We managed to put the fire under control by 2.45pm,” she said, adding that the road to the houses were narrow, making it difficult for the firefighters to reach the scene on time.
She said no casualties were reported in the incident while the cause of the fire and total loss is still under investigation. This is the second fire incident at Kampung Numbak this year. The first incident happened on March 28, leaving more than 5,000 people homeless.