‘540 high-risk buildings in Sarawak without fire certs’
KUCHING: There are 540 high-risk buildings in Sarawak that require Fire Certificates (FC), out of which seven per cent have applied for certification which have not been approved yet or will be approved soon.
This was disclosed by Fire and Rescue Department ( Bomba) director- general Datuk Mohd Hamdan Wahid, who said the buildings were in the seven zones in Sarawak – Kuching (Zone 1), Kota Samarahan ( Zone 2), Sri Aman ( Zone 3), Sibu ( Zone 4), Bintulu (Zone 5), Miri (Zone 6) and Limbang (Zone 7).
“In the seven zones, there are 540 designated high rise buildings that have got high risk to fire and out of this figure, seven per cent have not been approved or are going to be approved soon,” said Mohd Hamdan.
He added that the percentage for the whole country was high as about 50 per cent of the about 8,600 designated buildings had been issued with FCs while the other applications were under process.
He disclosed this at a press conference after officiating at the two- day Third Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department Assistant Directors Meeting 2018 at a hotel here yesterday, which was attended by 36 officers from all over the country.
Held three times in a year, the meeting discusses issues related to fire safety in buildings.
In the Fire and Rescue Department, the Fire and Safety Section is the most crucial section that approves applications for FCs to ensure that all buildings in this country comply with regulations on fire safety.
This section is also responsible for public education and awareness with regard to safety and rescue during incidents of fire and water mishaps.
“This section is responsible to check the buildings and to see that the buildings comply with the law and regulations and technical requirement from the aspect of safety in terms of fire prevention and control,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the compensation of a fireman, the late Yahya Ali who drowned with five of his colleagues during a search and rescue operation in the unused mining pool in Selangor a month ago, Mohd Hamdan said compensation had been given to the family of the deceased.
“He was one of the officers who received a lot of compensation, among which was ex-gratia from the Fire and Rescue Department, which is an indemnity paid to the person who perished while doing his job.
“A day after he died, he was posthumously promoted and his salary increased, and this is the scale that we used for his ex-gratia and pension,” he said.
Apart from that, the late Yahya’s family also received group insurance from the Malaysian government, another insurance from Bomba Cooperative, ‘Khairat Kematian’ from the government and other group insurance besides funeral expenses from the Bomba group insurance, and donations from welfare organisations, Malaysian government, Sarawak government and from the public, he added.
Among those present at the press conference was Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department director Khirudin Drahman.