KUCHING: The State Fire and Rescue Department (BOMBA) have registered a total of 399 Bomba Community Units to help in emergencies making Sarawak having the most Bomba voluntary units.
According to director of State BOMBA, Nor Hisyam Mohammad, these 399 Bomba volunteer units comprise about 4,000 villagers, residents of housing estates and media practitioners throughout the state.
“In Sarawak, the Pantai Damai constituency voluntary unit is the most active although the Bomba Petra Jaya is much closer in covering the constituency, including Bandar Baru Samariang,” said Hisyam during the launching ceremony of Pantai Damai BombaYouth Community in conjunction with International Firemen’s Day 2017 celebration held at Bandar Baru Samariang’s multipurpose hall near here, yesterday.
He also noted that the voluntary unit is important in time of emergency because sometime Bomba will get stuck in the traffic when responding to the emergency call, and the unit can be deployed earlier to provide the necessary aid.
“Apart from that, it is a challenge for us to look for fire hydrants which are sometime covered by garbage or buried in sand. Bomba Petra Jaya also disclosed in the social media that they discovered their fire hydrants completely covered with rubbish,” he said.
Hisyam also pointed out that they cannot work alone to ensure the smoothness of their operation during emergencies and assistance from the local community who are trained through the Bomba voluntary units is very much needed.
“The community unit can help us by guiding us to the right road leading to the emergency and at the same time control the situation,” he said, adding that they can also take care of fire hydrants in their area.
Hisyam also urged Bomba community units in the city to take a photo of any party attempting to vandalise fire hydrants and to viral it in the social media or to apprehend the culprit and hand him to the authority concerned.
Also present was Pantai Damai Assemblyman, Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi.
