by Nancy Nais
KUCHING, Sept 15: The Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT) is considering the idea of purchasing a Bombardier aircraft for Fire and Rescue department (Bomba) Sarawak.
This is due to the fact that Sarawak faces extreme forest, peat and bush fires every year and the situation becomes worse during dry season which makes it easier for these fires to spread.
For this year, firefighters in Sarawak have been battling with these fire in the past two months where thousands of acres of land is affected.
KPKT minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said a Bombardier aircraft can carry out fire-fighting operations efficiently and effectively, taking only a few minutes from the time to draw water, to the site of bombing.
“At this moment, we do not have such aircraft for Bomba. This type of aircraft can conduct aerial water bombing, which will be a great help for firefighters on the ground.
“I am going to Italy tomorrow, to look into this matter. Depending on the budget, I will try my best to work on it under next year’s budget,” she said at a press conference today.
She added that the ministry is also looking into purchasing new helicopters, and one of it is for Bomba air ambulance services or medical evacuation (Medivac).
“Medivac is a timely and efficient movement and (is) en route care provided by medical personnel to those wounded being evacuated in search and rescue (SAR) operations. All these years, we have been purchasing machineries from Italy because they are well known manufacturer,” Zuraida explained.
Such helicopters provide aerial medical support and are designed with built-in medical interior.
Earlier, Zuraida handed over 1,000 fire extinguishers to Bomba Sarawak, a pledge that she made in August, as an instant but temporary solution to longhouse fires in the state.
The severity of longhouse fire cases over the years in the state has reached a worrying stage.
This year, 16 cases has been reported to-date, destroying a total of 353 doors while last year, 24 longhouses were razed by fire, rendering 431 doors and thousands of villagers homeless.
In 2017, 26 longhouses were destroyed while 2016 recorded 20 cases.
“We have been looking into some viable immediate and long term solutions to reduce the incidences. As one of the immediate measures to address the problem faced by these longhouse folks, I have arranged for these fire extinguishers for Sarawak.
“With these fire extinguishers, villagers can put out fire during emergencies while waiting for firefighters to arrive. This is crucial especially for longhouses, which are mostly isolated and far from the nearest fire station,” she said.
Bomba will equip these villagers with knowledge of fire prevention and trained them how to use these extinguishers. — DayakDaily
