An early morning blaze engulfed 11 houses in Memot commune in Tbong Khmum province’s Memot district on Thursday, destroying nearly all the properties. Nobody was injured.

District police chief Hong Kim Hoeun said the fire, which broke out at around 2am near a market, was caused by an “electrical fault”.

He said firemen spent two hours and used 35 water tanks, each containing 3,500 litres, to extinguish the inferno.

In a separate incident in Phnom Penh on Wednesday night, municipal fire department director Prom Yorn said an “electrical fault” also sparked fire at a material warehouse of the Din Ling Garment factory in Por Sen Chey district’s Chaom Chao II commune.

Yorn said the flames did not spread to other parts of the factory after staff used over 10 fire extinguishers while firemen also intervened in time.

A report released by the National Police’s Fire and Rescue Department said fires had claimed 13 lives, injured 104 people and destroyed 571 houses and 318 market stalls in the past 10 months.

Nget Samon, head of administration at the Ministry of Interior’s Fire Department, told The Post on Thursday that the majority of fire incidents occurred in Phnom Penh, Kandal, Siem Reap and Kampong Cham provinces.

“Most cases of fires are caused by electrical malfunction, gas explosion and human error,” he said.

Samon called on people to take extra caution to avoid fires during the Pchum Ben festival.

“As a precaution, please turn off electric circuits and put out candles and incense sticks before leaving home,” he said.