TONGOD: A fire destroyed 44 houses in Kampung Penangah here, leaving 282 people from 74 families homeless.
The Sabah Fire and Rescue Department operations centre said an emergency call was received at 7.24pm on Sunday (Sept 15).
However, firefighters only arrived at the remote location – more than 170km from the Kinabatangan fire station – at 11.30pm.
The fire affected an area of 1.21ha, with the houses built close together.
"All the affected houses were destroyed. Firefighters used open water sources to extinguish the flames.
"Fortunately, no casualties were reported,” the operations centre said in a statement.
The fire was brought under control at 2.30am Monday (Sept 16) and operations concluded at 7.10am, it added. – Bernama
