This was the verdict of the longhouse residents on the fire extinguishers given to them by Bintulu Member of Parliament, Dato' Seri Tiong King Sing, recently.

Last Friday, residents of the 28-door Rumah Merepat made full use of the extinguishers to put out a fire that started in a storage area underneath their homes.

When met by a team from the MP's People's Service Centre, one of the residents, Alil Ijau said the fire was first spotted about 4:30pm.

"We knew that we ourselves had to put out the fire as it would take some time for the real firefighters to arrive at our place," he told the service team members that include Tiong's special assistant, Teo Ho Ping and Kidurong SPDP secretary, Jacky Chan Jet Hui.

Due to the distance, a team of vouluntary fire fighters from Sebauh bazaar arrived about 45 minutes later at 5:15pm while a fire engine from Bintulu came about 45 minutes after that.

What made the problem worse was the weak pressure of the gravity feed water supply system at the longhouse.

The longhouse folk, therefore, had to depend solely on the fire extinguishers which they never used before.

"If not for the extinguishers, our homes would have been destroyed," said Alil.

While appreciating the contribution, another resident, Janting Kulleb hoped Tiong or some other authority could assist to refill the extinguishers as all of them had been used up...END.