KUCHING: Ministry of Housing and Local Government is mulling over having a new category for the Fire and Services Department (Bomba) to better serve longhouses in Sarawak.
Its minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the department presently had four categories – A, B, C and D – while the new category (E) would be specifically for fire happening in longhouses.
“This is to help address disasters, especially fires at longhouses which are mostly isolated. This new category (E) will accommodate the needs of longhouses,” she told a news conference at Pullman Hotel here yesterday.
Zuraida noted that many longhouse residents were not familiar with the use of electricity, and therefore might have led to some incidents involving short-circuit.
Given the distance between the longhouses and the help they should be getting in case of fire, she said it would be more helpful to train ‘community firemen’.
“We want to train local leaders and volunteers so that they could attend to any fire incident,” she added.