Mohammad Hamdan speaking during a press conference today.
KUCHING: The Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) will be setting up a mountain and cave rescue (MOCSAR) team in Mulu National Park soon, said its director-general Datuk Mohammad Hamdan Wahid.
According to him, such specialised team has already been established in Peninsular Malaysia; one each in Perak and Pahang and more will be set up at places where there are tourists or recreational activities involving caves.
“We believe that when there are facilities and training, they can operate more efficiently.
“We cannot treat (cave rescue) as a general rescue as it involves specialised expertise such as knowledge of the cave interior, the habitat around it, the oxygen level and so on,” he told a press conference after officiating the Enhancement Programme for Zone and Station Chiefs (Borneo Zone) today.
Mohammad Hamdan explained that there are specific teams to deal with mountain and cave rescue works, which include the mountain search and rescue (Mosar) in Sabah.
“We appoint the mountain guides as auxiliary Bomba officers. These are the people who go up and down Mount Kinabalu daily and they are the experts of the terrain.
“We have trained 40 personnel, who are given allowance and provided with personal protective equipment,” he said, adding that Mosar teams will also be developed in other areas of the nation where there are many tourists and recreational visitors.
He also noted the importance of new assets to tackle incidents that are caused by climate change and geological instability.
He gave an example of how Malaysia, which was previously not in Pacific Ring of Fire but is now beginning to experience the effects.
“We never had earthquakes before but now we have emergency resulting from tremors in Sabah. We had no less than 40 calls last year.
“We believe that this situation will start to occur (more often) in Borneo as well as Peninsula.
“With such changes (to the climate) and extreme weather conditions, it has implications on Bomba’s response to emergencies. We need to ensure that our facilities are sufficient to tackle (these incidents),” he said.
A total of 70 participants from Sarawak and Sabah are taking part in the five-day programme, which is part of a nationwide series to brief the zone and station chiefs on the direction of the department, lessons learnt, guidelines, new developments and others.