KUCHING: The Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) recorded a total of 2,794 emergency calls from Jan 1 to April 16 this year.
Bomba state director Khirudin Drahman in a statement disclosed that 1,004 (36 per cent) of the calls were related to fire; 1,697 (61 per cent) for rescue operations; and 88 (three per cent) for special tasks.
“For fire incidents, Miri recorded the highest number of calls which is 412 followed by Kuching with 164,” said Khirudin, adding Sibu had the third highest number of calls for fire incidents at 154.
On another note, he said RM11,216,411.51 worth of properties were lost to fire and RM97,088,717.89 were saved by the department between Jan 1 and April 16 this year.
On the calls received related to fire incidents, he said most of them were on bush or forest fires, followed by calls on fires affecting residential houses.
“It is also noted that the main cause of a fire involving structures is overload and negligence,” he added.
At the same, he informed that during the same period, three persons died and 14 were injured in fire-related incidents.
He also disclosed that three longhouse fire cases affecting 65 ‘bilek’ were recorded during the same period.