KUCHING: A disabled man was forced to flee with just the clothes on his back after a blaze engulfed his house at Kampung Sourabaya Ulu here yesterday.
Muhd Jaya Bujang, 55, was home alone when the house went up in flames at about 7.50am.
According to his elder brother, Hepeni Bujang, 58, said when the fire erupted, his younger brother was still inside the house.
However, Jaya managed to escape from the burning house.
It was believed that the fire started due to a short circuit in one of the rooms. It later spread to adjacent houses.
Another fire victim Mohamad Napiah, 47, an auxiliary policeman at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Kota Samarahan, was on duty at the campus when the fire happened.
He was grateful his wife and five children including a five-month old baby managed to escape in time.
“I received a phone call from my eldest daughter who is 22 years old before 8am, notifying me that our neighbour’s house was on fire.
“I immediately told them to get out of the house and leave our belongings behind. Shortly after, I received another phone call, saying that the fire had spread to our house. I rushed back,” he told reporters when met at the scene yesterday.
State Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) assistant operations director Tiong Ling Hii said the department was alerted at 7.50am.
Firefighters from three fire stations in Petra Jaya, Tabuan Jaya and Padungan were deployed to the scene.
“The fire left 21 victims homeless. One house was fully destroyed, two houses were 80 per cent damaged, three houses were 40 per cent destroyed while another two houses were partially destroyed in the fire,” Tiong said in statement yesterday.
However, no injuries and casualties were reported during the incident. The operation ended at 10.30am after the fire was fully extinguished.
The cause of the fire and losses suffered by the victims are still being investigated
