RESIDENTS of Uma Bakah, a Kenyah longhouse at Sg Asap in rural Sarawak, must be thankful for a couple of lucky breaks in the January 5 fire that razed only one block, according to the man who was at the forefront of the valiant effort to battle the fire.

The fire at the six-block longhouse left 15 families without a home in the settlement of people relocated by the construction of the Bakun hydroelectric dam.