The Fire

I don't know how to start this entry. I am traumatized, I am sad, I am grieved, I am angry and these gamut of emotions have started to take a toll on me today - day two of the aftermath.

Many (especially friends who are linked on FB) would have known by now that there was a fire in our home early yesterday morning. Kebakaran yang besar, never had I seen such fierce flames within such a close distance. Before I move on to relate about what happened, I have this to say, syukur pada Allah that everyone in the family is safe. We understand this is a dugaan dari Nya, kami terima dengan pasrah dan InshaAllah ada hikmah di sebalik kejadian awal pagi semalam itu.

It was early Wednesday morning, I was still making final checks on the documents I was supposed to bring with me for my trip to Penang that day. Dalam pada meng-copy docs to my pen drive, sempat juga ber-FB chat with Ummi and Lyana (about the cow she release from her FV in FB). Happy mood...happy to be starting a fresh day, walaupun penat dari weekend stint in Kertau still ada. But work...that's how things lah.

Then suddenly, I didn't feel good, my tummy was aching, my stomach muscle was experiencing spasms and it was so, so painful. I went into the kitchen, searched for my gastric pills and Bescopan for the pain relief. Really funny feeling, infact I have never experienced such a bad pain. My only guess was gastric coz itu je penyakit yang berkaitan with my stomach yang I tau lah.

It was 1.45am when I finally hit the sack.

Bescopan had obviously put me to slumber in no time, though I could still feel the spasms, it was nonetheless a relief. However, my relief and comfort didn't last long and what happened afterwards is still playing fresh on my mind till now.

I thought I was dreaming when I heard Farah saying this to me, "Mama...bangun ada api kat belakang!!" In my slumber I thought again....mimpi ker, betul ker?? Then her voice turned like a cry, "Mamaaaaaaaaa apiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii....."

I jumped out of bed and ran towards her. Ya Allah......memang ada fire out side our house; I could see it from the dining room window. Ran into the room again, shouted (sorry lah....darurat tak kenal coutesies) at Abe to wake up. As I grabbed my BB I yelled at him, "Dy got fire kat porch tu!!!" He got up, ran to the back and next thing I saw him doing was scrambling looking for the fire extinguisher. Dalam pada panic tu....BOTH of us tak sempat nak cari our glasses and were running like two blind bats!!!!

Farah was already panicking, I told her to go wake up Faris, Nissa and Bibik upstairs. Abe was trying to put off the fire from inside (when the fire source was actually outside). Panic...panic..panic...!! We were like stunned and couldn't think straight at that point in time.

Then Abe screamed at me, "Go get the keys, open the grill and the door, I have to go out!!" I ni dalam tak nampak nyer, pi cari house keys and somehow managed to open the side door that lead to our side porch where the fire started. It was biggggg....it was hot....and it was blazingggggg!!! At that time, dah rasa Ya Allah....this is it...habis lah...memang kami akan ditimpa musibah yang dahsyat.

Then Faris came down, still so mamai-mamai from his sleep. I told him, "Go help Daddy...go help Daddy!!" I ran out to call the Fire Department. Dialled 999 and was connected to a lady. She asked me for details, thank God, or else I would have just froze there. Nak bagi info pun tak tau nak bagi apa, I was shaking by then, my voice was in between screams and cries. She repeated my house address twice till I confirmed it correct. My head went blank.....

Done with the call, I ran into the house again to look for the girls. Tak kan lah dah 10 mins tak turun-turun lagi!!! Then I saw Nissa & Farah, and not long after that Bibik came down. By then I realized that I didn't have my glasses, so I ran into the room for them. The whole house was full of smoke, and I saw the fire dah almost as high as the ciling. Allahhu Akbar...Allahhu Akbar....Allahhu Akbar....I recited sekuat hati as I dashed into the house. Dalam hati....Ya Allah...aku pasrah...aku pasrah atas apa yang berlaku ini. Got my glasses and ran out again.

By then a police patrol car was already in front of the house. The two officers asked if Bomba was already here, I said no...even though I had made the call like 5 mins ago. Then there were screams from the girls....

I almost fainted when I saw Faris carrying the cage of our cats. From Farah's and Nissa's cries I knew what could have happened. I pulled Nissa, hugged her and told her not to look. Luna and Merci...... they were motionless.

Then Faris came with another cage with Chitty and Chomel in it. I said to myself, Ya Allah....please..please....spare them, please...these cats tak berdosa!!! We saw Chomel take his last breath and Chitty was sitting quietly at one corner. She was breathing like normal, infact when we called her, she responded. When we flashed the light at her, we saw she had burnts just above her eyes. Really scarry looking.....nampak kulit dia. But she was such a brave cat...tak scream, nothing...she just kept quiet.

I ran to the back again to check on Faris and Abe. By then they had managed to put out the fire. How they did it was a real miracle. It was such a big one and they fought it with water from our washing hose and rain water from the tempayan. Apparently Faris had thrown buckets of the rain water to prevent the fire from spreading to other parts of the house. Alhamdullilah.....syukur...syukur......

Then we heard the fire truck pulling in. Some guys came and asked about the fire and we told them, we managed to put it out. One guy when assesing the fire site later said this to Abe, "Abang padamkan sendiri??" Abe said, "Iyer...saya tak fikir apa...I used whatever yang ada and tried to control the blaze." Macam cerita super hero pun ader gak bunyi nyer......

The fire guys checked for other possible hot spots, and things looked ok. Then they asked questions on how it started....so I had to cerita lagi. Ealier dah cerita to the policemen.

It was a good one hour of panic and commotions. Both police and Bomba left once they confirmed that everything was safe. We had our neighbours coming to check on us too. Abe called the power guys to get them to check electricity in the house. The power had gone off some 5 minutes after the blaze started. They came but they said they couldn't do much and advised that we get a wireman to do the checks. I must say their answer somewhat intimidated Abe; iyer lah...how could another warga kerja be so uncompassionate di masa others in need. I heard him saying to the two young chaps, "Saya pun orang TNB jugak....." Tapi budak-budak tu buat selamba je...well...I guess they were just doing their job. And perhaps when they got their distress call, no one pun yg bagi tau...err by the way, that house you are heading to is a guy from TNB. No such thing lahkan......

So that was how it happened. Apparently, the fire started from our old sofa which was placed at the porch area. Sofa is there for kids to lepak while playing with the cats. What caused the sofa catch fire, we still have to get answers from the Bomba guys. They are yet to ascertain the cause.

I have many unanswered questions running through my mind since yesterday. How could a sofa out of blue be blazing away? Did some one set fire to it? If there was, who? Foul play?? And why??? Are there people out there who don't like us to the extent of wanting to cause hurt upon us??? In both my line of duty and Abe's too, are there people who are upset with us over the decisions we have made......

There are just to many Qs popping up now; dah jadi pening and bengong to think about it.

Anyway, the condition of the house is better today. Power we got back early yesterday morning. Abe yang jadi wireman sendiri; he cut of the supply from the affected area and the power came back. We had finished cleaning up the mess, wiped cleaned the floors, the walls, the bookshelves, infact everything that was in contact with the smoke and soot from the blaze. The downstairs curtains are already dried and we will hang them later today.

Faris has gone back to his practical office today. Abe is still on MC - he suffered second degree burns on his back. I am on leave; a rare thing that I do, but I know everyone has to be together to recover from the trauma that we had.

If I have the courage, I'll post pictures of the area that caught fire. We'll see how.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all friends and family who have shown so much love, given lots of encouraging messages words and support during this trying times. Tiada balasan yang dapat kami berikan, hanya lah Tuhan sahaja yang dapat membalasnya.

Thank you from the very bottom of our hearts.