Enough manpower to tackle open fires
Published on: Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hajiji presenting the State Government’s contribution to the Sabah Fire and Rescue Department, received by its Director Abdul Razak Muda.
Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Fire and Rescue Department has enough manpower to deal with open fires in the State due to the current hot and dry weather.
Sabah Fire and Rescue Director Fire Senior Assistant Commissioner Abdul Razak Muda said the department has frozen the leave of all 1,088 firemen.
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“Besides the department’s firefighters, we also have 48 volunteer fire brigades with a strength of 1,200 members across the State.
We are currently focusing on extinguishing the open fire still burning at the Kayu Madang solid waste disposal area in Tuaran.
“Although the area is small, involving approximately 8.5 acres, the fire needs to be extinguished completely considering the effect on nearby residents and industries,” he added.
Abdul Razak said the department was cooperating with City Hall (DBKK) which helped by providing heavy machinery such as lorries and excavators to be used to transport soil from nearby areas to bury the burning tyres.
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“This operation has been running for about two days and yesterday (Tuesday) we made 406 trips using 26 lorries from 8am to 5pm.
“After this is over, we will continue to extinguish using foam and high-performance pumps that can take water from as far as 1.3 kilometres.
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So far, the operation has been effective, so I hope the affected residents will be patient and give us a little more time. God willing, we will put out the fire,” he said after receiving a contribution from the State Government at Menara Kinabalu, Wednesday.
The contribution of firefighting equipment, including portable pumps, motorised sling pumps and fire-beaters, was presented by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
Abdul Razak said the department received new information related to a new peatland fire in Beaufort.
“Perhaps after finishing our job in Tuaran, we will focus our effort on extinguishing the peatland fire in Beaufort,” he said.
According to him, the department had extinguished fires on 9,392 acres throughout Sabah as of Tuesday and only the Kayu Madang fire, covering 8.5 acres, remained.
“But we have to remember that we are still in hot and dry weather. An open fire can break out any time if there is open burning activity.
“That’s why we are working closely with the Department of Environment (DoE) to ensure open burning is controlled as best as possible.
“We expect that in mid-April when there is a monsoon transition, it will rain and we will focus our efforts on extinguishing the fire in Beaufort,” he said.
On the Beaufort fire, he said the area involved was patchy and deep in the forest.
“It is quite a large area with limited access, so we would have to walk while carrying the pumps and also the hoses. It would be quite challenging, so we will focus on Tuaran first and then on Beaufort.”
Abdul Razak said volunteer fire brigades were also involved in putting out fires, especially open fires, in several districts, because dealing with such fire requires a lot of manpower.
“We are grateful to the State Government for the contribution of the firefighting equipment. Firebeaters and portable pumps are very effective for use in areas that do not have sufficient water supply,” he said.
In addition to volunteer firefighters, the department also has community fire brigades that have yet to be mobilised, he said, adding community firefighters are made up of civilians.
“Right now, we are working on forming more water community fire brigades because fires involving houses on water are also quite serious in Sabah.
“Last year, we established Malaysia’s first water community fire brigade in Tanjung Aru, with a membership of 100 people.
“Next we aim to form a similar water community fire brigade in Tawau, Kudat and Sandakan,” he said.
The water community fire brigade is being established in collaboration with the National Security Council (MKN).
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