Fire destroys classrooms at SK Sundar
LAWAS: An empty wooden block of classrooms built on stilts belonging to SK Sundar was razed to the ground in a morning fire yesterday.
No injuries or casualties were reported.
A Fire and Rescue Department ( Bomba) team from Lawas led by senior officer Masjid Dollah rushed to the scene located some 30km away from Lawas town to put out the fire. With the wooden structure destroyed, an important part of the school’s history has also been erased.
The building which measured 30ft wide and 140ft long is a stone’s throw away from the new school buildings which cost RM 19 million, a project which was declared open by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zahid Hamidi in March this year.
The fire was first noticed by parents who were sending their children to school. However, the fire spread rapidly and engulfed the building in minutes.
A distress call was placed to the Lawas Bomba station at 6.46am by a member of the public. The first team of five firefighters reached the scene at about 7.15am when the fire was already at its height.
A water tanker and an emergency response service vehicle were also dispatched to the scene.
The fire was brought under control by 7.27am, and put out at 9.15am.
The destroyed structure and other permanent structures are built on stilts to overcome the perennial flooding woes in the low-lying Sundar sub- district.
According to records, community leaders in Sundar established the school here but a storm flattened the first nonpermanent structure built in the 50’s which was built through ‘gotong-royong’ by villagers.
Teachers were paid with funds collected from the villagers and from other sources until the school was moved to its present site in 1958 with Lawas District Council constructing the school buildings and taking over the hiring and employment of teachers.
The school was previously known as LDC School Sundar and Central Malay School Sundar.