‘Bomba to allow S’wak, Sabah personnel take Christmas leave’

KUCHING: The Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) will be coming up with a contingency plan to accommodate its Sarawakian and Sabahan personnel during this year-end holiday season, its directorgeneral said.

Dato Mohammad Hamdan Wahid said it was only right for the department to do so as many Bomba personnel in the two states will be celebrating Christmas this month.

“In fact, leave for Bomba personnel has been frozen since last September till February 2020 for those on duty in operations to deal with the expected flood season.

“However, we believe for Sarawak and Sabah, many of our personnel and officers will be celebrating Christmas, therefore we will be carrying out a contingency plan to ensure these men applying for leave could be replaced by those who are off in case of emergency calls during this festive season,” he said.

Mohammad Hamdan was speaking to reporters after closing the Borneo Bomba Volunteer Teams Convention 2019 at Bomba Sarawak headquarters, here yesterday.

He said officers manning Bomba operations centres would also be on call on a 24-7 basis in case of emergency, to ensure that the department would always be ready to respond to any emergency.

“In some exceptional cases, any Bomba personnel requiring emergency leave could still be considered for approval. These exceptional cases could be like the death of a relative or family member, things like that,” he explained.

On year-end floods, he said Bomba is working closely with other emergency response agencies as well as the National Disaster Management Agency and Meteorological Department, to check on flood cases around the country in terms of monitoring and rescue operations.

Mohammad Hamdan said Bomba has been prepared for the flooding season since September, and will be on standby to respond to flood emergencies throughout the country.

“We advise the public to always heed the advice of emergency response agencies, particularly Bomba, as we are doing monitoring around the clock.

“You can also call up the nearest Bomba station for detailed advice or for updates on flood situations in your area,” he added.

Mohammad Hamdan (front, fourth left) together with Bomba Sarawak director Khirudin Drahman (front, third left) in a group photo with Bomba volunteer teams from Sarawak and Labuan after the closing ceremony of the Borneo Bomba Volunteer Teams Convention 2019.