By Nancy Nais
KUCHING, July 26: The saying “a great fire can be extinguished by a cup of water if strike at the right time” couldn’t be any more true.
In a span of 15 hours, the state recorded two cases of longhouse fire, but thankfully, both were successfully saved by the fast thinking villagers.
The first fire occurred at Long Ikang in Baram this morning, while the second fire occurred at Rh Malong in Sungai Melaban Sare, Sarikei.
Firefighters from Sarikei, led by fire station chief Mahmudin Narudin responded to the emergency call at 3.51pm.
However, upon arrival, they received good news, that it was successfully controlled by the villagers themselves.
“A small fire was caused by short circuit on the ceiling fan control switch. One of the villager, 43-year-old Masing Abak, witnessed the fire and was fast to respond by using a fire extinguisher to control it,” Mahmudin said.
The 16-door Rh Malong has 110 residents.
State Fire and Rescue director Khirudin Drahman praised the agency for their continuous efforts to raise awareness and educating the people, especially those in the rural areas, on fire prevention and safety programme.
He added that the department has been trying very hard to create “champions” among the community leaders via various programmes.
“It is from these knowledge and training imparted to longhouse residents and the availability of extinguishers, that they’ve learned and helped themselves on how to handle emergency situations like this,” Khirudin said. — DayakDaily
