SELANGAU: A fire destroyed a wooden longhouse near here last night, leaving 161 residents homeless, in the fourth case of longhouse fires in Sarawak since the beginning of this year.
No one was injured in the blaze which occurred at about 8.30pm at the 25-door Rumah Umpang in Ulu Bauh Chelum, a spokesman of the Sarawak Fire & Rescue Department operations centre said today.
Eleven firefighters from the Sungai Merah Fire and Rescue Station, after being summoned at about 10pm, had to negotiate narrow gravel roads to reach the longhouse and draw water from a river to put out the fire by about 3am today, he said.
Meanwhile, Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department assistant director of operations Tiong Ling Hii said four longhouse fires were reported in the state so far this year, leaving 798 residents homeless, one person dead and two others injured.
“Over the last five days, fires have destroyed three longhouses,” he said, adding that the previous fires occurred at Rumah Buyong in Betong, Rumah Chandi in Sungai Tau, Selangau, and Rumah Uma Bawang in Belaga. – Bernama