Elderly woman in her 90s perishes as yet another longhouse hit by fire in Sarawak

MIRI – Yet another longhouse was destroyed by a fire in a remote area of Sarawak last night, leaving one dead and about 200 people homeless.

The blaze reduced Rumah Sebom to rubbles, killing a woman aged in her 90s, said Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department today.

The longhouse was located in the Ulu Katibas region, in the upper reaches of Song district in central Sarawak.

Made of wood, its location was 81km by land route from the nearest fire station in Song bazaar.

It had 33 living quarters built adjoining one another and measured 540 feet long.

"All the living quarters are burned down totally, with a hundred percent of the longhouse structure destroyed.

"The fire team that was deployed to the longhouse from Song Fire Station found a woman burnt to death in one of the rooms," the department said in a press statement.

All the other residents managed to escape the flames.

The deceased had been identified as Tungut Angong,  who was suffering from old age disability, said the department.

"There were burnt marks on her," it said, adding that the fire teams concluded the operations at the longhouse around 10pm after handing over the deceased to the police.

The fire team only returned to Song bazaar at about 6am this morning after travelling hours through rugged roads.

The welfare authorities have been notified on the plight of the longhouse fire victims who are homeless now.

The last longhouse fire in Sarawak was only about a week ago, and that incident was also in central Sarawak.

On Sept 28, a devastating fire swept through a big longhouse in the remote interior of Julau district, killing a resident and leaving 189 others homeless.

The longhouse  – Rumah Michael Maran  – was also reduced to ashes and rubbles.

Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department said the longhouse had 36 living quarters built adjoining each other.

Another resident suffered burns while the rest managed to escape the flames. The cause of the fire was still being probed.

Longhouse fires have become a constant worry among the nearly one million folks living in these settlements throughout rural Sarawak.

Almost every month a fire outbreak happens in these rural communities.

Another incident happened last month at the Uma Bawang longhouse in the Sungai Asap resettlement scheme in central Sarawak near the Bakun Dam. – The Vibes, October 5, 2023