

KUCHING: Twenty-four teams took part in an Emergency Response Team (ERT) 2018 Training programme held at the State Fire and Rescue Department (BOMBA) headquarters here, yesterday.
The programme organised by Bomba is an initiative to strengthen and polish the skills of ERT members for high risks category premises.
“The high risks premises must have ERT in order to get the Fire Certificate (FC) from Bomba where it is the main safety aspect to shorten the response time of fire,” State Bomba director Nor Hisham Mohammad told the media during the progamme.
He said last year’s statistics, ERT managed to put out eight fire cases.
“In 2018, we also have eight fire cases comprising three hotels, three factories, one hospital and a warehouse. Only for the hospital, the fire was put out by the system, while the rest was done by ERT members.
“By advocating this programme, we will able to identify the strength of each team instead of giving motivation to resolve fire issues,” he said.
The teams comprising 264 participants compete in four categories namely “Latihan Operasi Peralatan Kebombaan”, “Latihan Operasi Fireman Lift”, “Latihan Kawad Iron Man ERT” and “Latihan Kawad Campuran Basah 300 Kaki 2 Pancutan”.
The teams are TH Pelita Gedong Sdn Bhd, Serian Palm Oil Mill Sdn Bhd, Masrant Palm Oil, CMS Serian, Taiyo Yuden (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd, Sejingkat Power Corporation, ERT Longi Kuching, UCSI Hotel, Lembaga Pelabuhan Kuching, Team LBU (Pan Borneo), CMS Kuching and others.
Hisham also lauded 90 premises owners in Sarawak who managed to put out fire using fire extinguishers last year.
“From the 90 premises, property loss was worth RM1.03 million. However, RM17.8 million worth of properties was salvaged due to the owners’ immediate response.
“This year, 34 fire cases managed to be put out by the premises owners using fire extinguishers with only RM656,000 worth of property loss but managed to save RM10.4 million worth of properties,” he pointed out.