Family loses home to fire in Bandar Baru Samariang
KUCHING: A fire that razed a terraced house in Bandar Baru Samariang yesterday left a family of five homeless.
The fire, believed to have occurred at 11am, razed a semiwooden house to the ground and partially damaged adjacent houses.
House owner Rami Kapur, 56, was traumatised but thankful that no one was injured.
“I received a call from the neighbours around 11am while at work, telling me that my house was on fire. I rushed home to find the fire with heavy smoke billowing from the house.
“Nothing was saved from the fire, everything gone,” she told reporters, adding that her family had lived in the house for the past 14 years after moving from Siol Kandis in 2003.
“My husband wasn’t at home while two of my grandchildren are in school. Only my mother who is in her 80’s was at home at the time,” said Rami, who works as a cleaner at Wisma Sumer Alam.
Rami said her mother was washing and hanging up clothes when she spotted the fire in the middle of the house, and was rescued by the neighbours.
The Fire and Rescue Department ( Bomba) dispatched firemen from three fire stations – Padungan, Tabuan Jaya and Petra Jaya – to the scene. Firefighters from Padungan Fire Station were the first to arrive at 11.30am followed by those from Tabuan Jaya and Petra Jaya fire stations, according to witnesses.
It took the firefighters about 30 minutes to put out the flames and the operation ended around 1pm.
Although the family – three adults and two children – has been displaced by the fire, no one was injured in the incident.
The cause of the fire and quantum of damage are yet to be ascertained.