More than 1,000 residents in Kampung Hidayat, 4th Mile Jalan Apas were left homeless when about 250 houses went up in smoke this evening.

Tawau Fire and Rescue Station operations head Martin Thomas said the station received a call on the incident at 3.11pm and arrived at the location about 15 minutes later with five fire engines and 30 personnel.

"Upon arrival, more than 100 wooden houses were already destroyed and the fire was brought under control two hours later," he told reporters here today.

Thomas said the fire engines were blocked by cars parked haphazardly on the access road while water pressure at the location was low.

-- BERNAMA