KOTA KINABALU: Five houses on stilts were destroyed in a fire at the water village of Kampung Pulau Larapan Hujung in Sabah’s east coast Semporna district on Sunday (May 14).
Also razed in the 12.40pm incident was a multipurpose hall.
Semporna Fire and Rescue station chief Abdul Kadir Haalan said they were alerted of the blaze at 12.49pm.
A five-man team was immediately deployed in a Kevlar boat to the location, he said.
“When they reached the scene, they found that the fire was at its height and had already destroyed several houses,” he said when contacted.
“Firefighters subsequently tried to douse the flames using water from the sea,” he added.
Abdul Kadir said the team struggled to put out the fire as the houses were wooden and so close to each other.
“Despite that, the team managed to get the fire under control and prevent it from spreading to other houses.
"So far, we’ve only counted five houses and a multipurpose hall that were destroyed,” he said, adding no injury or loss of lives was reported.
After putting out the fire, he added, the team made one last check before ending the operation at 2.56pm.