20150813 Malaysia 75-Year-Old Restaurant Burnt Down In Fire
Malaysia Aug 13 2015 “Houses” “Stores”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
75-Year-Old Restaurant Burnt Down In Fire
Updated: 2015-08-13 12:00
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 (Bernama) — In the blink of an eye, restaureter Chong Tek Fong became homeless and lost his source of earnings when his shop in Kepong which also serves as his family’s home was burnt down today.
Chong, 66, could only cry his heart out together with four other family members, as he watched his 75-year-old home and three other empty shops gutted down by the fire at 12.45 pm.
Chong had spent his entire life in the single-storey premises in Jalan Metro Prima, Taman Kepong, which he inherited from his father since the time of the Japanese occupation.
At the time of the fire, Chong was there with his wife, 50, and three daughters, aged 20, 17 and 12 years.
Clad in an orange t-shirt and shorts, Chong who could not stand as he had sprained his ankle as he was saving himself during the fire, did not want to be interviewed.
His eldest daughter, Chong Pik Yan, told Bernama that during the incident, only she and her parents were home, while her two siblings had gone to school.
“The shop is not open today, so luckily there were no customers,” she said, adding that they would be staying at a relative’s house for a while.
The family was left with only the clothes on their backs as the fire spread too rapidly and they could not save anything.
She added that the back portion of the house had been renovated as the family’s residence.
Meanwhile, Jinjang Fire and Rescue Station Chief Nor Azhar Tajudin said 80 per cent of the building structure was made of wood, causing the fire to spread rapidly.
“We brought the fire under control within 15 minutes but the entire operations took about two hours,” he said.
He said 36 members of the department and six fire-fighting vehicles from four stations were rushed to the location.
Web Source: Bernama
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v8/newsindex.php?id=1161426