34 fire cases in 10 months
By Hjh Saemah Zulkefli

Fire personnel take part in a fire drill.

The Belait District Fire Department recorded 34 fire cases from January to October this year. From the total, 13 cases were houses on fire where in one fire a man died. In other cases the department recorded three burning incidents, six car fires and two fuel barrel fires.

After thorough investigations, the department concluded that the cause of fires were mainly due to carelessness such as leaving unattended food being cooked, ironing equipment, not putting out cigarettes butts and so on.

Apart from that, excessive wiring in a building and short-circuits were the other causes of fire.

The department added that the spread of a fire in a building is due to lack of knowledge and understanding of individuals who were at the scene on how to control the fires at the beginning stages.

Towards giving more understanding and knowledge to the public, efforts have been undertaken by the department such as Fire Prevention Training scheme to private companies, schools and government department in the district.

Recently, a two-day fire training for 20 personnel from Hj Yacob Taruddin Security Guard Agency Company was held at the Seria Fire Station.

Throughout the training - both in theory and practical - the participants were briefed by Fire Prevention Officer, Awg Malinao bin Pantok and Deputy Station Officer, Awg Mohd Taha bin Bakar.

Through this training, they were also briefed on the duties of fire personnel, techniques in using fire extinguishers like CO2-based, dry chemical-based and water-based extinguishers. A talk on how fire spreads and how to prevent it form spreading was also given.

To ensure the participants understood the theory, a practical hands-on training was given on the correct use of extinguishers.

The deputy station officer said that the training will give participants exposure on the causes of fires either in office or home. He added that apart from fire training scheme, the department also conducts emergency fire drills at business buildings, schools and both government and private offices.

The drill is to give an understanding on how to quickly evacuate a building in not more than three minutes upon hearing the sound of fire alarms.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin