Quick response stops bushfire near Miri’s Grand Old Lady

MIRI (April 1): A late-night bushfire broke out near the Grand Old Lady, Canada Hill, here on Tuesday.

The Miri Central fire station said it received a call about the incident at 8.17pm.

“A team of four personnel was immediately dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival at 8.21pm, the operations commander confirmed the presence of a bushfire,” the station said in a statement.

Firefighters were able to bring the blaze under control at 8.26pm.

The fire affected 0.5ha of land, of which the team managed to extinguish 0.1ha.

“The operation concluded at 8.51pm,” it said.

The fire was clearly visible for miles, with images of widely shared on social media.

The Grand Old Lady was the first commercially viable oil well discovered in Malaysia in 1910, where production lasted until 1972.

Today the historical site is the location of the Petroleum Museum.