by Nancy Nais
KUCHING, May 12: While Sarawak has been under restricted movement control since March 18 to break the Covid-19 chain of infection, firefighters have been kept busy with rescue operations.
Since March to May 11 this year, Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) Sarawak recorded a total of 1,158 cases including search and rescue (SAR).
Its director Khirudin Drahman said most of the SAR operations involved missing individuals in jungles and at sea.
“Perhaps people were bored staying at home, hence they went out to the jungle to hunt, or sea to fish. The longest recorded SAR case was the one at Telaga Air which was carried out for seven days,” he said at a press conference here today.
Throughout the MCO period, the department also received 150 calls requesting special services, such as destroying wasp nests, catching snakes or crocodiles, removing rings stuck on fingers, and so on.
On the other hand, the number of fires reported reduced significantly from 1,075 cases recorded from March to May 11 last year, down to 337 cases over the same period this year.
Revealing this, Khirudin pointed out that these statistics were positive because it showed that the number of home fire cases had dropped dramatically despite the increase in kitchen activities during the restricted movement order.
“In the last two months, the community was ‘stuck at home’ due to the MCO; hence there will be more cooking activities. It shows that they are beginning to understand fire safety. Their vigilance is very much commendable. We would like to thank the community for the positive impact throughout the MCO,” Khirudin asserted.
He also pointed out that during this period when the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) is in effect, everyone must continue to pay attention when they conduct cooking activities and avoid excessive use of electrical appliances which could cause disaster.
“We hope that the community will continue to take the 3P (precaution, prevention, protection) measures and avoid the 3L (‘Lupa, Leka dan Lalai’) syndrome, which refers to forgetfulness, carelessness and negligence,” Khirudin added. — DayakDaily
