SIMANGGANG: Five senior citizens aged between 66 and 87 years were made homeless when fire razed three double-storey houses in Punggu Tapang, Jalan Sri Aman-Serian on Sunday (July 11).
The fire victims comprise an 87-year-old woman who was living in one of the affected houses and two elderly couples who were residents of the other two units.
Sri Aman fire chief William Baheng said his men were deployed to the scene after receiving a distress call around 3.25pm.
Upon arriving, the team proceeded to extinguish the flames and prevented it from spreading to nearby houses. However, two houses were completely razed while another house was about 70 percent burnt.
There was no fire hydrant in the area and firemen had to use water from a nearby ditch to put out the fire.
He said an elderly couple aged 76 and 72 years, stayed in the first house, whereas the 87-year-old woman lived alone in the second house.
The third house was inhabited by another elderly couple aged 66 and 71 years. They all escaped to safety when the fire broke out.
There were no reports of casualties or injuries in the incident and the cause of the fire is still being ascertained.
Meanwhile in Kanowit, one unit in a double-storey longhouse, RH Kujat caught fire around 4.20pm.
Kanowit fire chief Arrahman Chik said the blaze only caused partial damage to the unit in the 15-door longhouse.
There were no injuries reported during the incident.
The flames were successfully put out in 30 minutes.
Firemen putting out the flames that caused 20 percent damages to one of doors in the 15-door longhouse in Kanowit. 
