CAUSE FOR FIRE PREVENTION

By HAMDAN RAJA ABDULLAH
metrose@thestar.com.my

Brand new station: Muhammad Hanafiah (left) presenting a mock key to mark the handing over of the newly built Bukit Gambir fire station to Abd Ghani (right) in Bukit Gambir.

 

TANGKAK: All industries that will be built in Penggerang especially around the state’s RM20bil Petronas Refinery and Petrochem-ical Integrated Development (Rapid) will be required to set up their own in-house fire fighting teams.

State Fire Services and Rescue Department director Datuk Abd Ghani Daud said this was aimed at curbing fires at the industries from breaking out and spreading before firemen could arrive.

Speaking to reporters in Bukit Gambir he said there would be several petroleum and gas industries planned in Pengerang in the next few years.

“Although the department has plans to build two fire stations in the area, we still want the industries to set up their own fire fighting teams.

“We will provide skill training courses as the industries are related with petroleum and gas,” he said after receiving the newly built Bukit Gambir fire station from the Housing and Local Government Ministry’s southern region project development and implementation branch assistant director Muham-mad Hanafiah Shariff last week.

Abd Ghani said the department also planned to build a fire station at the Tanjung Langsat petrochemical industrial site near Pasir Gudang to cater to the needs of heavy industries there.

He said plans were underway to locate a suitable site in Tanjung Langsat but expected the land to cost be between RM4mil and RM7mil.

He said the price of land in the Iskandar region had increased tremendously over the past several years and this increased the cost of new fire stations planned in Johor Baru.

On the new Bukit Gambir fire station, which included four units of living quarters, Abd Ghani said it was built in 2008 at the cost of RM8.1mil.

He said the complex was completed last year and provided fire and rescue services not only to Bukit Gambir residents, but also to surrounding areas up to Pagoh.

“The station here has some 31 personals, and since January had fought some 44 house fires.

“They were also called to assist in 86 rescue missions, including accidents along the roads and seven special services such as catching snakes in the villages,” he added.

SOURCE: THE STAR, OCT 22, 2012