SEMPORNA: Some 900 residents lost their homes in a fire involving about 100 temporary settlement homes in Kampung Bangau-Bangau, here, late Wednesday night.
Semporna Fire and Rescue Station (BBP) Chief Edoen Macheal said the station received an emergency call through MERS999 and deployed 12 personnel and two fire engines, including the Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS), to the location.
“A team from BBP Air Semporna, the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) and Civil Defence Force (APM) also assisted in the operation.
“On arrival at the scene, the firefighters found 10 blocks of settlement homes, housing 900 residents, had been razed,” he said when contacted by reporters here, Thursday.
He said they managed to bring the fire under control at 12.46am. The operation ended at 3.05am. There have been no reports of injuries or accidents in the fire.
The affected area served as a temporary settlement that had been built by the Government for victims of a fire in 2017 which destroyed water houses.
After losing everything in a fire incident in 2015, one can imagine the agony that Angelista Bastara had to relive when a fire broke out in her settlement home in Kampung Bangau-Bangau, here, Wednesday night. She has, however, resigned herself to restarting life for the second time.
Angelista, 45, said the tragedy on Wednesday night saw all things, gathered after the 2015 fire, perish in a wink of an eye.
“Previously, we lived in a slum because we were unable to save anything. Today, it seems we have to start all over again,” she said when met by reporters at a temporary relief centre, set up at the Kampung Bangau-Bangau Youth and Sports Hall, here, Thursday.
Late Wednesday, some 100 temporary settlement homes that were built in 2017 by the Government, in Kampung Bangau-Bangau, were destroyed by fire.
The settlement was used to house victims of the 2015 fire that destroyed 435 houses on water in the same village.
Angelista said she was boiling water when she heard shouts followed by two blasts.
“I saw a fire, so without wasting any time, I gathered my six children, aged three to 17, to safety. I also managed to save personal documents.
“Although the fire was getting closer to home, I had to return to my house to save my 50-year-old husband who is unable to walk due to swollen feet,” she also said.
Meanwhile, Limgon Linsun, 38, had to muster his strength to save his senior citizen in-laws. He carried one of them and used a trolley to push the other.
“I was lying down when I suddenly heard screams from outside. When I ran out, there was a cloud of smoke and a big fire. There was no time to save anything but my car and of course, my in-laws,” he added.
Another victim, Sitti Julbaidah, 80, had to brace herself to wade through thick smoke in order to save both herself and her three-year-old grandson.
“I was unable to save anything...I was the last person to leave the house. I just ran. Thankfully all the family members survived, even though we lost everything,” she said.
Meanwhile, 27-year-old Brave Bagiti said he saw the fire starting from a house in the middle of ??the settlement before it spread to other houses.
“I was repairing a car when I saw the fire. I shouted ‘fire’ many times,” he said, adding that his brother-in-law’s house was also on fire as well as his car.
In a statement Thursday, the Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) said more than 900 victims were affected by the fire and a temporary relief centre was opened at the Kampung Bangau-Bangau Youth and Sports Hall here.
Earlier this month, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor announced an allocation of RM8.25 million for repair work on Kampung Bangau-Bangau temporary houses for the 2015 fire victims.
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