SANDAKAN: Some 28 houses were destroyed in an early morning fire at Kampung Nunuyan Laut here on Wednesday (Aug 19).
The Sabah Fire and Rescue Department said it received an emergency call at 3.50am before deploying 12 firefighters from the Sandakan fire station.
The team travelled 6.1km to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) jetty before continuing about 12km by boat to the water village with assistance from the agency.
Firefighters reached the scene at 5.25am.
The department said the fire involved 28 non-permanent houses, all of which were completely destroyed, covering an estimated area of 30m by 200m.
Strong winds made the journey to the village difficult and also caused the flames to spread rapidly from one house to another.
Firefighters used seawater and two water jets to battle the blaze, which was brought under control at 5.45am.
Their efforts prevented the fire from spreading to another 162 houses.
No casualties were reported.
Firefighters continued extinguishing remaining hotspots and monitoring the area before the operation ended at 8.33am after it was declared safe.
