MARANG: The Fire and Rescue Department will freeze the leave of all its officers and personnel in five states in the event of a critical flood situation in late November and mid-December.
Its director-general Datuk Nor Hisham Mohammad said the move involved about 6,000 staff members in Terengganu, Kelantan, Pahang, Johor and Sarawak.
He said all state directors involved had been briefed and instructed to implement the leave freeze order following the warning of six series of heavy rain and high tide for two phases, namely from Nov 27 to 28 and Dec 15 to 17 by the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia).
"So far, we have not frozen the leave, just limit it. Only 20 percent of all members and officers are allowed to take leave.
"But we have issued instructions to the state directors involved, last week, to be ready to issue a holiday freeze order if there are floods beyond their capacity and a series of red level heavy rain.
Commenting further, Nor Hisham said in preparation, his team had activated forward operating bases at two locations, namely at the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Academy Eastern Region, Wakaf Tapai and the Ayer Hitam Fire and Rescue Station (BBP), Johor.
In the meantime, he said, a total of 22 Rapid Action Teams (Red Teams) have been formed throughout the country and the teams are equipped with various assets to enable them to move to help stations near flood disaster locations.
"Last year, we created three forward base locations, one in Penang. But we see that the West Coast area is not expected to be as critical as the East Coast.
"For the Red Team, as soon as the floods are expected to hit, we will communicate and they will move faster to reach the location," he said. - Bernama
