Fire engulfing the 12-door longhouse.
BINTULU (May 25): It will be a bleak Gawai for the residents of Rumah Rentap, Sungai Rasan in Tubau after their 12-door longhouse was razed to the ground yesterday.
Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) Bintulu chief Wan Kamarudin Wan Ahmad said the department received a distress call at 2.59pm from one of the residents.
He said a fire engine with eight personnel were dispatched to the scene, located about 100 kilometres from here.
“Firefighters only arrived at the scene at around 4pm. The 12-door longhouse was completely destroyed but no casualties were reported in the incident,” he said.
According to him, firefighters faced difficulties extinguishing the fire as there was no water source at the scene, adding they only managed to bring the flames under control at 4.43pm.
The cause of the fire is being investigated and estimated losses have yet to be ascertained.