Abdul Mutalib (centre) presents a token of appreciation to Henry Ho, who is retiring this year. At left is Abdul Mutalif.
SIBU: Four areas have been identified as the proposed sites for the construction of new fire stations, says Sibu Zone Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) chief Abdul Mutalib Rashid.
According to him, the areas are Selangau, Sibu Jaya, Bintangor and Daro.
“In Sibu Jaya (township), the land has been levelled; so has the one (new site) in Bintangor.
“In Selangau, measuring works were carried out a couple of days ago (on a site) located beside the clinic.
“We hope that the proposed fire stations could be built as soon as possible to provide coverage to these areas,” he told reporters during the ‘Sibu Fire Station’s Appreciation Night’ at Central Road here on Friday, where station chief Abdul Mutalif Jaafar was among those present.
The event was held as an appreciation to the services of eight firefighters – four of whom are scheduled for transfer, while the rest are retiring.
On the new fire station in Bintangor, Abdul Mutalib said it was meant to replace the old facility.
He said the new station in Tanjong Manis was still under construction.
However when asked on the class of these fire stations, he was uncertain.
“It (category) would depend on suitability – only the (Bomba) headquarters would know.”
Meanwhile, Abdul Mutalib reminded his men to improve their service delivery including conducting regular checks on fire hydrants.
This, he stressed, was crucial in view of the public getting more discerning and news becoming widespread even faster than before due to advancement in information technology especially on social media.
Citing an example, he said whenever there was a fire outbreak, the images would be shared on Facebook way before the arrival of firefighters. In this regard, Abdul Mutalib said the public had become the ‘auditors’ to Bomba – so to speak.
“There are two techniques of firefighting – defensive, which is controlling the situation; and offensive, which is actually putting out the fire.
“Firefighters should step up their capability in both methods.”
However, Abdul Mutalib – who has been serving here for the past 11 years – hoped that the public would understand that in any case, his men could not reach the affected site ‘in a blink of an eye’.
“The conditions of the traffic and roads must also be taken into consideration. Moreover, some callers fail to provide the exact location of the incident; there have been cases where they were struggling to find phone contacts of fire stations, when the key number to call is 999, regardless of which area or state they are in Malaysia.
“It would also be recommended for members of the local community at the site of the incident to work together in putting out the fire – provided that it is still small,” he said.