Call for holistic approach to handle fire issue in Sabah water village
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Fire and Rescue Department director Nordin Pauzi said a holistic approach was necessary to handle fire issue in the state water village and to avoid recurrence of such incidents.
He said the approach should cover the land ownership or the delineation rights, development approval and control, the existence of basic facilities such as electricity and water, including fire safety requirements.
“It is not right if the fire problem in the water village continues to be shouldered alone by the department as this issue covers all parties,” he told Bernama.
He was commenting on a fire incident that destroyed about 150 houses in the water village of Kampung Cenderamata Dua, Likas, near here on Tuesday.
Even though the construction of water villages statewide did not need fire safety review by the department, it did not reduce the role of the fire and rescue department, especially during fire extinguishing operations, he said.
“So far, the fire safety requirements for the construction of private-owned houses in the water village in Sabah are not embodied in the Uniform Building By-Law 1984. Therefore, there is no clear system to control or restrict the construction of such houses,” he added.
Nordin said Sabah water village could be classified into three types namely traditional which had legitimate land ownership, illegal or squatter, and a mix of both.
He said fire incident in water village could be avoided by an integrated programme implemented by the government, especially the local authorities.
“Most squatter settlements are occupied illegally or encroachment of the government land. The residents should be registered and the construction of the houses should be controlled.”