Dampen those fiery impulses
SEREMBAN: Refrain from carrying out open burning during the ongoing dry weather and make sure you don’t cause any bushfires as the outcome can be dire, says the Fire and Rescue Department.

Its director-general Datuk Nor Hisham Mohammad said what worries him most was that there were people who had a compulsion to deliberately set things on fire.

“While making my rounds in Sabah recently, I was taken aback when told there were small fires reported in seven areas in the same locality.

What many people do not know is that it can take us between three and four hours to put out a bushfire, so our personnel will not be able to respond quickly to other emergencies in the same area,” he said when met after presenting excellence and long service awards to firefighters in Negri Sembilan and Melaka here yesterday.

Citing an incident in Sibu, Sarawak, Nor Hisham said four fire engines were deployed to put out a bushfire.

When a fire suddenly broke out at a nearby village around the same time, he said only one fire engine left in the station could be sent to fight the blaze there.

“As a result, 62 houses in the village were destroyed in the ensuing fire due to lack of personnel at the site,” he said, adding that this was why the public should refrain from carrying out open burning as it could lead to serious consequences.

Citing another example, Nor Hisham said firefighters from the Meru Raya fire station in Perak could not respond promptly to a fire at a hypermarket recently as some personnel were away fighting a bushfire.

“The slight delay did have a big effect (on the blaze) as personnel from other stations such as Ipoh took a longer time to arrive due to the distance,” he said.

On Saturday, Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming said there was a sharp increase in open burning cases this year. He said in February, 5,556 cases were recorded, which is a 645% increase compared with 746 cases in January.

Nga attributed the surge to a combination of factors, including the unusually hot and dry weather.

Nor Hisham said although the number of open burnings had increased significantly, the situation was still under control.
hot,fire department
SEREMBAN: Refrain from carrying out open burning during the ongoing dry weather and make sure you don’t cause any bushfires as the outcome can be dire, says the Fire and Rescue Department.