THE FORTH BIG FIRE

In spite of the steady development and improvement made by the Government in and around Ban Town, the town again faced another fire tragedy. On 24.9.1978 at about 3.30 a.m., Bau Town was on fire again. This was the fourth time in the history of Bau llial the bazaar was razed to the ground. The Fire Brigade rushed to the scene within 10 minutes; by then lire was seen on the roofs of 3 shop-houses at Nos. 31, 33, and 35 of Jalan Datuk Salau.

View of Bau Town During the Big Fire in 1978

There was a strong wind and in view of the fact that all the shop-houses which were made of wooden materials in 1950, the conflagration spread very fast to both ends of the row of shop-houses. Due to the explosions of gas, kerosene, ammunitions and falling debris, the fire grew more violent and within minutes, the opposite row of shop-houses was also on fire. 1, Three fire engines and 14 men from Kuching, Municipal Council (KMC) only arrived at the scene at 5.00 a.m. By that time, most of the 69 wooden shops at Jalan Datuk Salau had been destroyed beyond recognition. The water pressure from the gravity feed supply was not powerful enough to put off the fire effectively. Fortunately, there was a sudden change of the direction of wind after 5.00 a.m. With the additional manpower (from KMC Fire Brigade) and tile use of the water from the nearby pools, the ESSO Petrol Station and a row of the remaining 6 wooden shop-houses at Jalan Ong Guan Cheng were saved. At about 5.30 a.m. all the 69 shop-houses became ashes. There was no casualty except about 900 people were made homeless.