A quarrel between a man and a woman led to a pre-dawn fire on Tuesday which claimed the lives of the woman's two children and left at least 450 people homeless, the Penang Fire and Rescue Department said today.

The department's report on the Noordin Street Ghaut blaze doused widespread speculation that the fire was deliberately started to get rid of a squatter colony there that was standing in the way of the delayed Jelutong Expressway.

Officer in charge of operations Nazri Zakaria said the department's investigation found that a man who had quarreled with Umi Kalsum Harun, 38, whose two children died in the fire, had committed the arson. The man is not related to the family.

Man in the house

"Our probe found that the man, who was unhappy with the woman, was in her house after she had left to buy food for her children," Nazri said when contacted in Penang.

"Our report will be submitted to the police department soon," he added, declining to reveal further details.

The children Anatasha Mardiana Abdul Rani, 3, and Alwani Zulaika, 2 had been locked in a room by their mother who had gone out to buy food when the fire broke out at about 5am.

The fire in the foreshore area along Pengkalan Weld, believed to be the worst in recent years, destroyed more than 50 houses, of which 39 had temporary occupation licences and 10 were illegal structures built by squatters.

Rumours had been spreading like wildfire as to the origin of the fire as there had been a similar tragedy in the area which is located within the DAP-ruled Tanjung constituency. A neighbouring squatter colony was badly swept by fire two years ago. Yesterday, a godown, located a few metres away, was also burnt down.

Criticism deflected

Meanwhile, the fire department is upset over complaints by the public that it was unable to save more houses on time.

State Fire and Rescue Department director Rusmani Muhamad said 78 firemen in 12 engines, including two volunteer teams from Jalan Raja Uda and Air Itam, brought the blaze under control by 7.25am.

To the question of why not all the eight pumps at the site were used to put out the fire, Nazri said, "We had no choice but to use five pumps only as using more would affect the water pressure. We could not use other pumps available as they were too near the site.

"The public does not understand that we have our own technique of doing things. We managed to control the fire a little while after we arrived and wiped out the fire within two hours."

Nazri said the fire personnel also used salt water and sand from the sea nearby to put out the fire.