Putra Heights fire: Final assessment of affected houses complete

The final physical assessment of residences affected by the gas pipeline fire in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya, is complete, said Fire and Rescue Department director-general Nor Hisham Mohammad.

The assessment team will table a report to the department this evening before it is made public, he added.

It took time to conduct the assessment work because it also involved other agencies, and because the crater is always filled with water, which had to be flushed out first, he told Bernama.

Besides the Fire and Rescue Department, the other agencies in the assessment team are the Subang Jaya City Council and Tenaga Nasional Berhad.

In an audio shared with the media, Hisham said that the team had completed assessing the affected residences in all six zones.

"Now, we are compiling the findings to be submitted to the Selangor Disaster Management Committee,” he said, adding that the department also deployed 25 investigating officers from Selangor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur and the headquarters (Putrajaya) to be in the team.

He said the department also checked on the electrical wiring of each affected residence to determine if they were safe for the homeowners to return.

"InsyaAllah, the matter will be announced either today or tomorrow," he added.

Yesterday, Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari was reported to have said that as of last Friday, 130 of the 235 houses in Taman Putra Harmoni that were affected by the incident were confirmed safe and their occupants had been allowed to return to their homes.

As of yesterday, 509 families had registered as victims of the tragedy.

Those who have not registered are advised to do so to avoid missing out on aid provided by various quarters. Today is the last day for them to do so.

The Petronas gas pipeline fire at 8.10am last Tuesday saw flames rising more than 30m high with the temperature reaching 1,000 degrees Celsius.

It took almost eight hours to completely extinguish the fire. A total of 148 houses were damaged, but could still be occupied after repair, while 87 houses were declared a total loss.

- Bernama

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