KAPIT, March 6: Fire emergencies at remote logging camps pose challenges for firefighters as the long distance to travel, often through challenging topography makes it very difficult to reach the scene in time.
With this in mind, Kapit Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) station on March 3 conducted a building evacuation training programme as well as a fire extinguisher demonstration for 36 workers of a logging camp in Sungai Pila, about 136km from here.
According to the station’s chief, Timoty Barat, when an emergency or fire occurs involving logging camps, the main obstacles encountered are always related to distance and geography of the location.
“At 5.30pm on March 3, we traveled 136 kilometers including 97 kilometers through the logging camp road to reach Sungai Pila logging camp in two hours and 40 minutes. The purpose of this training was to educate and impart firefighting knowledge to the camp residents on the importance of fire safety,” he said.
The training, he added, was to build participants’ confidence to take action in the event of a fire emergency.
“The knowledge presented during fire prevention demonstrations during the talk is very important especially for the camp dwellers where their residential premises are located far from the fire station,” he said.
Timoty added that the camp residents were also given training and familiarisation of building operations as well as showed how to use fire extinguishers. A fire simulation was also conducted in two residential blocks.
Meanwhile the camp manager, Lyno Medang gave his thumbs-up for the training.
Lyno suggested that fire safety training should be conducted at least once a year to teach every resident of the camp to use fire extinguishers for their use during fire emergencies.
“Our camp is very far from the Kapit fire station, which is about 100km away. As a result of this training, the residents of the camp have learned how to use fire extinguishers and how to use wet towels to douse fires in the kitchen. This is something new for us and it is hoped that this programme will continue,” he said. — DayakDaily
