KUCHING: The State Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) will be starting its fire platoon courses in universities (Kor Siswa) soon in Sarawak.
Bomba director Khirudin Drahman said this after officiating at the closing ceremony of the fire platoon course and state-level school cadet and rescue commissioning at Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) Kuching.
“We will start the fire platoon courses soon at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
“The department will start taking in students in September when the new semester begins,” he added.
Khirudin hoped to see two fire platoons of 60 students each in both universities to disseminate the knowledge and skills that they would soon learn.
“The location for the course will be limited. However, I was informed that the demand is high so we will have to review whether our budget is sufficient.
“We hope that next year, with more (funds) in our budget, the university student intakes will increase.”
The platoon course that began in 2018 was organised at the school-level involving primary and secondary schools.
Khirudin added that this year, Bomba was looking to expand its programme throughout Sarawak as a sign of respect and honour for the firefighters.
“We want to create a sense of networking among the cadets in schools because in the past, they used to have the course in their respective schools.
“Now when we have cadets coming together from different schools, this will spark competition between them and produce smart and skilled cadets.
“Apart from that, we want to let parents, teachers and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) know that being a Bomba cadet is important. It is not just to fill up the co-curriculum slot in school.
“It can be used as a platform to channel knowledge about fire safety and operations to everyone,” he said.
