Latest case involves SK Sungai Sugai in Pakan, two blocks razed as teachers look on without fire extinguishers
The fire at its height when firemen arrived an hour later from Bintangor, 53km away. Firemen from Sarikei station also rushed to the scene.
KUCHING: Fire destroyed SK Sungai Sugai in Pakan yesterday afternoon, making it the seventh school in the state to be partially turned into ashes since March this year.
The fire razed two wooden blocks of this 50-year-old boarding school, about 7km from Pakan town, and there was nothing the few teachers who were around to look after the 174 pupils staying in the dormitory could do.
Headmaster Rambli Jidi said the teachers could only watch helplessly as they did not have any fire-fighting equipment, not even fire extinguishers. All they could do was to call the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) in Sarikei and Bintangor for help. One of the affected blocks housed two classrooms – Primary 2 and Primary 3 – and they were completely ruined.
The other housed a remedial classroom, a Primary 1 classroom, a resource room, Islamic religious room, a library, staff room, general office, and headmaster’s office. It was 90 per cent wiped out. Up in smoke were library books, office documents, textbooks, computers, printers and other equipment.
Rambli said the fire was believed to have started from the Primary 3 classroom, and strong winds fanned the fire to spread rapidly in both blocks.
The incident could have been sparked by a short circuit as the school still depended on generators for electricity. No one was hurt as classroom ended about an hour earlier, the pupils were in their dormitory, and most of the teachers had gone home.
“Classes will go on as usual tomorrow (today). We will use the dining hall as classrooms for the time being,” said Rambli.
Bintangor Bomba station chief Nichols Belulin said his men received the distress call at 3.23pm, and by the time their 10 firemen reached the scene at 4.22pm, the fire was already at its height. He explained they took so long to get to the school as the station was 53km away, in Bintangor.
Sarikei Bomba Station, located 56km away, also rushed nine men there to help out.
Nichols said although they were too late to save the two wooden blocks, they managed to save the nearby buildings, comprising a multipurpose hall, a classroom block, and teachers’ quarters. The fire was contained at 5.25pm.
Bernama reported that when Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas was informed of the incident, he expressed his sympathy.
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- Rolland Duat (sixth from right), government officers and parents rushed to the school upon hearing of the fire yesterday. — Photo by Anthony Aga
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- Firemen making sure the fire is completely extinguished.
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- Sarikei station, 56km away, also answered the distress call, aside from Bintangor Bomba. Both arriving an hour later.
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- The aftermath of the fire at SK Sungai Sugai Pakan in Julau yesterday, where computers also went up in smoke. — Photos courtesy of Bomba
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- Firemen arrived too late to save two wooden blocks but saved nearby buildings including the teachers’ quarters.
Meanwhile, Meluan assemblyman Rolland Duat, who rushed to the school upon being alerted, said he was disappointed on being told that the school did not have fire extinguishers.
The authority should view this matter seriously, he said.
“All schools, especially those in the rural areas, should have fire extinguishers.”
He added there was also a pressing need to set up more voluntary or community fire brigades in the rural areas.
The first school-fire this year involved SMK Engkilili: its main switch board caught fire on March 11. Then on July 5, the roof of a walkway of SK Kapit along Jalan Bleteh was in flames.
Eight days later, the laboratory of SMK Sungai Tapang here was razed.
On July 26, another school in Kapit was hit, this time it was SK Lepong Gaat.
SK Sundar Lama in Lawas was next—on Aug 15.
Then on Sept 4, the eve of the UPSR examination, pupils of SK Bario in Bario watched in horror as their classrooms turned into an inferno.