A FIRE gutted a row of three heritage shop house units in Belait town area early yesterday morning, causing damages estimated to be at least half-a-million dollars.
The fire was believed to have started from the upper floor of the double-storey shop house, occupied by five staff and manager of a fast food chain.
The fire broke out before 6am yesterday morning and destroyed the upper storey wooden interior along the stretch of the shop house block along Jalan Pretty, Kuala Belait. Businesses affected were KFC fast food outlet, a chicken rice restaurant and Pustaka Remaja bookstore.
No casualties or injuries were reported. The fire station received a call at 6.08 am regarding the fire at Unit 18, 19 and 20 of the shop house building.
A fire spokesperson also confirmed that a minor fire had broken out on September 12 during the Ramadhan month at one of the rooms on the upper floor of the fast food outlet when one of its staff accidentally threw a lit cigarette inside the wastebasket.
The KB shop house units, some refurbished while some remained in their old state, have experienced a number of fire outbreaks in the past years owing to the deteriorating state of the building that has existed over half a century.
Forty-five fire fighters led by Acting Commanding Officer Operation ‘IV Command, Superintendent Chin Pok, utilised the ‘aerial’ fire fighting technique to battle the blaze from the rooftop and also used the ‘turn table ladder’ to douse the fire after firemen opened up the asbestos roofing.
Fourteen fire personnel from Bomba Brunei Shell were also deployed at the scene to support the Fire and Rescue personnel.
The spokesman said under the uniform building by-law, business occupants at the shop houses are required to build a fireproof wall to contain fire outbreaks. But unfortunately the blaze, thought to have started in one of the upper storey rooms of the fast food outlet, spread to the other units rapidly.
Fire fighters will investigate the structure of the partition as fire spread to two of the other shop units.
The spokesperson further stated that it took them more than three hours to fight the blaze as the shop house units had combustible materials like paper and plastic.
Filipino staff, Froilan Balmonte, 26, who has been working at the fast food outlet for a year, said he woke up around quarter to 6am to the smell of smoke and quickly rushed out to find that the smoke had engulfed the pathway area of the staff house.
He was among the first who detected smoke from the fire and banged the doors of his housemates. He managed to save his personal documents and breathed a sigh of relief that he did not keep his personal savings in his room.
However, 21-year-old local staff, Malai Amiruddin bin Malai Hamzah, said he lost his personal belongings in the fire including vital documents such as identity card and passport. He was also up 15 minutes to 6am for a glass of water and returned to bed when a staff erratically knocked on his door, shouting for him to get out of the building immediately.
Meanwhile, 50-year-old local woman, Dyg Kris Thor working at the chicken rice shop was in tears to see the restaurant, which operated from the building for more than 10 years, in ruins.
About 5am, she was already with the other staff making preparations in the kitchen when they heard shouts of fire from a different shop house tenant who happened to be jogging around the area and spotted smoke billowing from the upper floor of the fast food outlet, located just a unit away from their restaurant.
She is relieved that her personal documents and savings are safely tucked inside her sling bag, which she carries to work every day.
However, she and 11 other staff staying on the upper floor of the chicken rice shop could not save other belongings and electronic items in their room, as they rushed out in panic to save their lives.
Pustaka Remaja Operation’s Manager Haji Mohamad bin Abdul Hamid said the morning blaze caused an estimated loss of over $100,000. Stacks of new books and stationery supplies stored on the upper floor were badly burnt. Also, water used to extinguish the fire has also damaged the store’s books and stationeries.
Four of the store’s male employees managed to get out of the staff house on the upper floor unharmed, when they were alerted by the screams after performing the subuh prayers.
A fire officer said that statements from staff on the origin of the fire vary, but the firemen will conduct a complete investigation to find the real cause of the mishap including the possibility of foul play.
Some of the staff claimed that the fire originated from one of the rooms where the fast food outlet stores their daily stocks while some others believed that the fire could have triggered due to defects in the refrigerator wiring.
Fire officials also receive reports that a staff could have left an iron on the countertop or left the washing machine unattended.
“Whether it’s human error or electrical fault, we will leave no stone unturned,” he stated. Firemen together with enforcement officers from the Department of Electrical Services will dig through the rubble to find out what sparked the blaze.
After the smoke cleared out, the Bulletin noticed that the roof of the fast food outlet has caved in and the floor crumbled. Nothing has been spared except for the concrete walls. Fortunately, an electrical store located next to the chicken rice restaurant was saved from the fire.
Another official said the Fire and Rescue Department had made a random inspection in the middle of this year to assess the business establishment’s safety maintenance.
He added that shopkeepers and residents living in this heritage shop building must undertake a review of the building against fire outbreaks such as by changing old electrical wiring and exercise care not to install equipment that can cause overloading.
Proper housekeeping is also vital especially where there is storage of inflammable goods in the building, the fire officer noted.
The blaze yesterday attracted a large crowd of curious onlookers who happened to be in town to have their early morning breakfast. Members of the public also captured images and videos of the inferno and later posted them on social networking sites to mourn the loss of their favourite eateries in town.
On April 5 last year, six women and a man were killed at a rental wooden home along Jalan Bunga Raya, Kuala Belait near to the town area, in one of the worst fire tragedies in Brunei’s history.
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