BELAGA, July 13: Some 680 villagers in Uma Sambop were made homeless after their 86-door longhouse and a church were razed to the ground yesterday.
The Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (JPBM) operations centre in a statement said they received a distress call at 3.31pm.
It took 10 firefighters from Belaga Fire Station led by PBK II Helman Main one hour and 30 minutes to reach the scene located 69km away.
The operations commander reported that they had to use villagers’ water storage tanks and open water sources to put out the fire.
They also conduct fire breaks to prevent the flames from spreading to the adjacent school SK Sambop.
The fire was brought under control at 7pm. More than 10 personnel from the Uma Daro volunteer firefighters team from Sungai Asap also helped in the operations.
No injuries were reported in the incident. —DayakDaily
