Kota Kinabalu: Some 669 residents were made homeless when 80 squatter houses were destroyed in a fire at Kg Cempaka, Likas, at dawn, Saturday.
Lintas Fire and Rescue Station (BBP) Chief Agustavia Joe Guasi said the fire destroyed the homes of 139 families, but no casualties were reported.
Advertisement (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});She said a total of 33 firefighters from Lintas and Kota Kinabalu fire and rescue stations were rushed to the scene after receiving a distress call at 5.41am.
“The area of the fire is 250 square meters and it was brought under control at 7.32am,” she said, adding the firefighters were assisted by the police, Sabah Electricity, the Civil Defence Force (APM) and the Water Department.
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“Of the 80 per cent outsiders, only five to 10 per cent do not have MyKad.
Advertisement (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});“Based on our village census, there are 186 houses in Kg Cempaka, with most built on the sea and the rest are on mainland.
“Three cars and two motorcycles were also destroyed by the fire,” he said.
Advertisement (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});To a question, Aziz said most of the residents had lived in the village for many generations since the mid-1970s.
“The fire started about 5.30am after Subuh prayers and spread to other houses at 5.40am. The firefighters arrived five minutes later,” he said.
Aziz said the road leading to the area is quite narrow and small with many vehicles parked at the roadside but the fire engines managed to go through and reached the scene to put out the fire.
One of the victims, Hamzani, 44, said the fire started from his neighbour’s house at 5.15am and spread quickly to others due to the windy weather.
He said he only managed to save personal documents and electric appliances.
Meanwhile, an elderly couple perished in a fire that engulfed a semi-permanent house in Kampung Limbanak, Penampang, early Saturday.
The victims, a woman in her 50s and a man in his 60s, were pronounced dead at the scene by health officials. It is believed that the woman died from electrocution, while the man was found burnt inside the house.
The Kg Limbanak house fire in Penampang which claimed the lives of two.
The Sabah Fire and Rescue Department received a distress call at 3.26am and dispatched fire engines from the Penampang fire station, with backup from the Putatan station. The first team arrived at the scene within 10 minutes.
According to operations commander Callixtus Fedilis, the fire completely destroyed the house, along with five vehicles - a Toyota Hilux, a Toyota Prado, a Toyota Vios, a Perodua Kelisa and an electric motorcycle.
“There were initially reports of three occupants in the house. However, after a thorough search by the K9 unit, no signs of a third victim were found,” he said.
Firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control by 4.31am using an open water source from a nearby river. The operation concluded at 8.15am.
A total of 25 personnel were involved in the operation, including 13 from the Penampang station, six from Putatan and two from the K9 detection unit.
Other agencies involved included the police, Malaysian Red Crescent (PBSM), Health Ministry (KKM) and Sabah Electricity.
The victims’ remains have been handed over to the police for further investigation.
