JBPM SABAH MOBILISES 1,340 PERSONNEL TO FACE MONSOON

KOTA KINABALU, Dec 3 (Bernama) -- The Sabah Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) has ramped up preparations for the northeast monsoon, focusing on 799 flood hotspots across the state, announced its director, Jainal@Zainal Madasin.

He said 1,340 personnel from all 27 fire stations in Sabah will be mobilised to face the monsoon season. 

"Sabah has not experienced major floods like other states such as Kelantan. However, we are at the early stage of this monsoon season, so we must be prepared. Among the measures we are taking is freezing the leave of our personnel," he told reporters after the Sabah JBPM director's handing-over ceremony here today.

Jainal, a former Kelantan JBPM director and a native of Putatan replaces Farhan Sufyan Borhan, who has been appointed as the Kelantan JBPM director. 

Commenting on his new role, Jainal said he would continue the plans implemented by his predecessor.

"I thank the previous director for the many positive developments, such as the establishment of fire stations on water and at Mount Kinabalu.

"I need to strengthen what we have, including further expediting our response times to incident locations," he said, adding that to achieve this goal the department would assess more locations that need fire stations.

"Sabah has 27 fire stations, and two new stations are under construction in Merotai and Pitas, which are expected to be operational early next year," he said.

Jainal noted that many other areas need fire stations due to their distance from existing ones.

"For instance, the KKIP Sepanggar area does not have a station nearby, which means it would take time for the nearest fire station to reach the location in the event of a fire. As such, we have received proposals to build a station there. We will evaluate and conduct the necessary studies," he explained. 

-- BERNAMA