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SANDAKAN – It’s a bleak Ramadan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri for over 70 families when some 30 squatter houses were destroyed in a fire at Kampung Sundang Laut, Batu Sapi this morning.
Sandakan Zone Fire and Rescue Department chief Martin Thomas said they received an emergency call at 7.55am and a team with four fire engines arrived at the scene 17 minutes later.
He said the fire was brought under control at 9.17am and no injuries or fatalities were reported.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation.
Firefighters, with the help of villagers, had to employ the firebreak method to stop the flames from spreading, he told reporters at the scene.
“We had to get water from a water tanker that was over 426m away, so that delayed the operation.
“But we managed to control the fire from spreading at 9.17am,” said Thomas.
A majority of the victims are being housed at the Batu Sapi People’s Housing Project (PPR) multipurpose hall, while a few of them have been placed at the village community halls and relatives’ houses.
One of the victims, Darnawati Ismarudin, a mother of five found it hard to believe that she will spend her Hari Raya Aidilfitri homeless.
She was interviewed by The Vibes while awaiting assistance from the Welfare Department.
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“You wouldn’t believe how quick the fire spread.
“We saw smoke near our neighbour’s house when we were heading out of the house.
“I thought my neighbour was burning rubbish and I ignored it but five minutes later someone came chasing after us, shouting that my house was on fire.
“I panicked and ran to my house and saw that my kitchen was completely razed.
“Half of my house was gone so I quickly went inside and grabbed important documents (birth certificates) and bolted,” she said.
Darnawati said she regretted not taking her money and children’s school supplies out of the razing house.
She said her parents-in-law, brother, and cousin also lost their homes in the fire today.
“Just like that, I lost everything I had in a few minutes,” she said.
Not the first incident of its kind
This was not the first time that Kg Sundang Laut has been razed in fire.
In 2017, various parts of the village were razed, destroying 58 houses which have now been rebuilt by the villagers.
In 2019, fire destroyed 32 houses in Kg Air, 36 squatter houses at an unnamed village, 7 houses at Kampung Cenderamata and 35 houses at Kampung Bungaya.
Fire destroyed a total of 30 houses at Kg Sheng Kee in 2020.
Former Sekong assemblyman, Datuk Samsudin Yahya told The Vibes that the frequent fire incidents at Batu Sapi’s villages could be caused by the structure of the villages where wooden houses were built too close to one another.
Fire spreads faster, especially when there is strong wind, he said.
Interestingly, another reason could be due to a short circuit, as the electrical wiring in these villages is not compliant to the Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd’s (SESB) safety standards.
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“They (electrical wiring) are obviously not following the standard.
“We could tell by just looking at the poles and wires here.
“They were set up by the previous independent power distributor (IPD) companies.
“I hope the current government would look into having SESB check the electrical wiring problem at villages in Batu Sapi to stop these fire incidents from recurring,” he said.
Samsudin said that SESB was unable to supply electricity directly to Kg Sundang Laut as the village is said to be occupied by undocumented people believed to be migrants.
“But they are wrong. The villagers here are locals, they are Malaysians,” he said.
He also said that there is a need for a fire station to be set up in Batu Sapi since the current fire station is about 11km away.
Kg Sundang Laut has yet to be gazetted as a village, but Samsudin said he has initiated the process when he was assemblyman (before the 14th general election), and hopes that the current Gabungan Rakyat Sabah government will resume the application. – The Vibes, April 21, 2021
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