Blaze destroys house in renovation

In vain: Firefighters putting out the fire which destroyed a house at Kampung Malaysia Jaya in Petra Jaya. – Photo: ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE

KUCHING: A family of three faces a bleak Raya after their partially-renovated house in Kampung Malaysia Jaya here went up in flames.

Azman Omar, his wife Khariah Omar and their son were not at home when the fire broke out yesterday morning.

“We were on our way to buy tiles for the house when we received a call that it was on fire. We were in the middle of renovating the house for Hari Raya,” Khariah said.

She added that they started the renovation work about a month ago on the 40-year-old house.

Fire and Rescue senior assistant superintendent Mohammad Raffy Saibi said 18 personnel and two fire engines from the Petra Jaya and Kuching fire stations responded to a call at 10.47am.

“When we arrived, the fire had already destroyed about 80% of the house. We managed to control the fire from spreading to the neighbouring houses at 10.53am,” he said.

Early information indicated that the fire started from the first floor.

“The cause of the fire is still being investigated and we leave it to our forensics personnel to carry out further investigations,” Mohammad Raffy said.