Fire at Batu Caves: Baby’s crying alerts mother

Hasliza Hasli, 34, said during the time of the incident, her three-month-old baby kept crying and was sweating profusely.

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KUALA LUMPUR: “My baby was constantly crying, I thought it was due to the hot weather. However, it turned out that the hill next to my house was on fire,” said Hasliza Hasli, 34, a resident of Kampung Sri Gombak, Batu Caves.

Hasliza said during the time of the incident at about 10.30am, she was trying to feed her three-month-old, but the baby kept crying and was sweating profusely.

“Previously, there had been a fire outbreak at the foot of the hill, but I did not expect the fire this time to spread so quickly to the top of the hill,” said the resident, who has been living there for the past 12 years.

Selangor Fire and Rescue assistant director Mohd Sani Harul said the department would request the people in the area surrounding the fire to evacuate, if the need arose.

“Our team will monitor the situation. If it is serious, we will ask the residents to relocate temporarily.

“This operation is divided into five sectors involving a total of 47 personnel including volunteer fire-fighters to control the situation,” said Mohd Sani.

He said the department also requested the help of its air unit in Subang, to monitor and douse the fires in the higher spots.

“Fighting fire on the higher ground is quite difficult. The factor of height and the risk of limestone falling could endanger the fire-fighters and the public, so we have prohibited civilians from entering the area,” he said.

The fire-fighting operation was expected to end tonight, and it would be followed up with 24 hours of monitoring, he said.

Asked whether the Sri Subramaniar Swamy Devasthanam in Batu Caves was affected, he said so far, the temple was safe.

“The distance between the temple and the location of the fire is about one kilometre. However, we will place our fire-engines and personnel on standby for any eventuality,” he said.

-BERNAMA

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