‘Buildings must have valid fire certs’

Dept: Owners must comply with rules or face the law

JOHOR BARU: Each year, the Fire and Rescue Department carries out checks at some 8,600 designated buildings nationwide to ensure they comply with the conditions set in their annual Fire Certificate (FC).

However, there are some premises that are still operating despite their FC being expired.

Director-general Datuk Mohammad Hamdan Wahid said the department was aware that some of them did not comply with the rules or even renewed their FCs.

“As such, we will be holding a roadshow to educate everyone about the importance of FCs as a preventive measure.

“Those who do not comply with the requirement after that will be taken to court,” he said, adding that in Johor alone there were more than 2,000 buildings which required FCs.

Among the premises are commercial and industrial buildings, factories and hotels.

He stressed that Johor was a fast-developing and industrialised state with huge petrochemical and oil and gas facilities, especially in Pengerang.

“All this needs to be checked regularly to ensure there is no untoward incidents,” he said after presenting medals and excellence certificates to 140 fire personnel and volunteers here yesterday.

Among the requirements for the FC are for the premises to have its own in-house fire safety team and automatic fire alert systems which are connected to the nearest fire station.

Mohammad Hamdan said the department was also planning to station another Hazardous Material Unit (Hazmat) in Pengerang to help beef up their response team.

On the hotspots around the country, he said the situation was improving, especially with more rainfall expected.

“We are also carrying out water bombing in areas which are not accessible by our vehicles, especially in Selangor,” he added.

The Star earlier reported that there were 15 major fires across six states, destroying land equivalent to the size of nearly 450 football fields.

The 15 hotspots involved peat soil, farms and estates, landfills, forests and plantations covering some 239ha.

Six of the hotspots were located in Sarawak while four were in Pahang, Johor (two) and one each in Kedah, Kelantan and Perak.

Most of the major fires have been put out so far, and there are still 56ha to be doused.