Tuesday January 15, 2013

More than half designated premises in Sarawak do not have FC, says Bomba

By ZORA CHAN
zora@thestar.com.my

KUCHING: More than half of premises designated under the Sarawak Building Ordinance have not obtained the fire certificate (FC) from the state Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba).

Without these FCs, these premises, which include hotels, factories, shopping complexes and oil palm mills, could not be insured and could pose a fire hazard for the public.

State Bomba director Nor Hisham Mohammad said 222 out of 359 designated premises did not have the certificate, with oil palm mills coming in last in terms of compliance.

“The national target for premises to have FC is 70%. As of the end of last year, Sarawak achieved 62%. We aim to achieve the 70% target by the end of this year. One of our targets is oil palm mills since only three out of 53 mills have the FCs.

“We will be carrying out regular inspection at the remaining 50 mills and get at least 15 to commit to obtaining their FCs by year’s end. We will also get 29 other premises to do so,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

At present, Kuching has the highest number of FC certified premises at 94, followed by Miri (47), Bintulu (44) and Sibu (31).

As for fire prevention in commercial and public premises in general, Hisham said his department aimed at inspecting 7,630 premises throughout the state this year, a big jump from 1,801 premises checked last year.

“Sixty percent of these checks will focus on small shops which normally did not have fire-fighting tools such as extinguishers or comply with some of our regulations,” he said.

Last year, among others, 228 residences caught fire, shops (57), stores (23), kitchens (18), factories (17), offices (12) hostels (10) and schools (four).

Meanwhile, Hisham said Sarawak had 35 teams of 1,816 volunteer firefighters registered with the Registrar of Societies.

However, 10 teams were found to be inactive and the department planned to re-activate at least eight of them this year.

Each team will undergo at least four hours of training every month to enhance their efficiency and competency.

“We will set up three new teams in Santubong, Tebedu and Daro by year end,” he said.

He added that the department would continue its fire prevention programmes in longhouses and villages, and get individual or corporate sponsors to supply fire extinguishers for rural areas.

It planned to set up more Kelab 3K (Kelab Keselamatan Kebakaran Kanak-Kanak) at pre-schools to create awareness among the young, he said. Presently, there are 221 Kelab 3K with 5,912 members.

Earlier, Hisham handed over appointment letters to six personnel who had been promoted namely Tiong Ling Hii (Kuching Zone chief), Abdul Mutalib Rashid (Sibu Zone chief), Henry Goliong (Bintulu Zone chief), Janggan Muling, Mohamad Fauzi Mohamad Kifli and Azman Julaihi (assistant operations directors).

News

Tuesday January 15, 2013

More than half designated premises in Sarawak do not have FC, says Bomba

By ZORA CHAN zora@thestar.com.my

By ZORA CHAN
zora@thestar.com.my