SIBU: A fire destroyed a double-storey wooden house and damaged two others here today, leaving three families of 15 people homeless.
No one was injured in the blaze at Lorong 2, Kampung Usaha Jaya in Jalan Sentosa at about 8am, said Kampung Usaha Jaya community leader Ali Sarani.
He said the family members, comprising children as young as nine and adults up to the 70s, saved themselves but not their property.
“I was informed that the fire could have started from an electrical short circuit in the kitchen of one of the houses,” he said when contacted by Bernama.
A victim, Kassim Johari, 49, said he was returning from work in Rantau Panjang when he spotted thick smoke rising from the village and only upon reaching the village did he realise that his house was on fire.
“My family members had run out of the house in time. However, my 17-year-old niece fainted after seeing the fire. She was sent to the Sibu Hospital,” he said.
A spokesman of the Sibu Fire & Rescue Station said the station was alerted to the fire at 8.14am and it quickly sent firefighters from the station and the Sungai Merah fire station.
He said one house was destroyed and the two others suffered 30% and 20% damage.
The fire was put out at 9.41am, he added. — Bernama
