All volunteer firefighting teams to be registered under Bomba soon – DG
KUCHING: All Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) volunteer teams nationwide will soon be registered under the department, following the amendment to the Fire Services Act 1988 A1568 in Parliament last year.
Bomba director-general Dato Mohammad Hamdan Wahid said the move would allow the department to better manage and regulate these teams, which are currently registered with the Registrar of Societies (RoS).
“We will carry them (Bomba volunteer teams) over from RoS to Bomba so that we can regulate and manage them, so that their administrative regulation would be organised well,” he told reporters a er closing the Borneo Bomba Volunteer Teams Convention 2019 at Bomba Sarawak headquarters, here yesterday.
According to him, there are currently 394 Bomba volunteer teams nationwide with a membership of about 15,000.
“They come from various backgrounds and are stationed locally at their villages and settlements, and have been registered with the RoS,” he said, adding that Sarawak has 47 such teams with 2,147 members.
Adding on, Mohammad Hamdan said he hoped Bomba’s performance in dealing with emergencies as a whole would be enhanced once all the volunteer teams had been placed under the department.
“The department will utilise the volunteer teams in every aspect of Bomba operations, including pre-emergency, response, and post-emergency operations.”
For pre-emergency, he said these volunteer teams could help Bomba assess the risks in their area of jurisdiction, such as the conditions of fire hydrants, open water sources, and community engagements.
When responding to emergencies, these volunteer teams would be the first respondent to an emergency call from their area, and be the main contact to the department in case of a major operation as well as conduct rescue operations, he added.
As for post-emergency, Mohammad Hamdan said the volunteer teams could assist the department in setting up one-stop centres for emergency victims as well as to prepare evacuation centres for those displaced.
“They can help with paperwork as well as provide counselling for traumatised victims because they would be more familiar with the locals,” he said.