SERIAN: Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem has called on village communities to be serious when given the opportunity to learn about fire prevention in and around the home.
He pointed out that problems involving fires in rural homes have always been a result of carelessness in the use of cooking gas and power overload.
Speaking at the close of a ‘Program Bomba Komuniti’ in Kampung Terbat Leban
yesterday , Riot called on the participants, who were drawn from more than a dozen villages in and around Terbat, to put into practice what they had learned during the two-day programme conducted by Fire and Rescue Department.
“One point people must know is that as important as putting out fires, if not more important, is fire prevention,” Riot stressed.
The six-term Serian MP praised the Fire Department for its role in fire prevention without which Serian Town, which has seen no less than three serious fires in the recent years, could have been wiped out.
He assured that as the local MP, he was committed to ensuring the safety of villages from the threat of fires.
In response to a request by the state director of Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) Nor Hisham Mohamad, Riot said he would look to the need for equipment by the village’s firefighters.
Nor Hisham, who spoke briefly, said the department had formed what it calls Bomba Komuniti at village level which functions as a community emergency response team.
He advised village folks against building houses too close to one another, and to make provision for firefighting equipment like extinguishers, water pumps and water hoses.
Among those present at the ceremony were political secretary to the Human Resources Minister Major (R) Dato Peter Runin, Tebedu district officer Raymond Achen and Serian District Council secretary Joseph Indi.