Fire razes girl dorm in school

SEGAMAT - Three months after the male dormitory building at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Seri Kenangan Batu Anam here was destroyed in a fire, a similar incident occurred, but this time involving the girls' dormitory block.

The Segamat Fire and Rescue chief Muhd Hazim Abdul Razak stated that they received an emergency call regarding the incident at 7.40pm.

Muhd Hazim said that 18 firemen from the Segamat Fire and Rescue department and the Bandar Baru Segamat Fire and Rescue department along with five vehicles, were dispatched to the scene.

"Upon arrival at the scene, it was found that a fire had occurred in the two-story dormitory block in Block B of the girls' dormitory at the school.

"The fire involved one of the nine dormitory rooms. The fire had razed a dormitory room on the ground floor, measuring 15 x 8 metres, and had destroyed 80 percent of the entire room," he said when met by reporters today.

Muhd Hazim stated that there were 18 occupants at the time of the incident, consisting of female students from Form One to Form Five, but all of them managed to escape safely.

"No fatalities have been reported. In addition to the destruction of the dormitory room space, 10 bunk beds were also destroyed in the incident," he said.

The cause of the incident and the estimated losses are still under investigation, while the operation concluded at 9.30pm.

Muhd Hazim said that this fire was the second incident after the male dormitory block of the same school also caught fire on July 2.

He said that the fire in one of the male dormitory blocks at 1.53am involved two dormitory rooms and was believed to be caused by an electrical wiring problem.

A total of 30 male students were reported safe, and the fire destroyed 30 percent of the entire dormitory building.