FIRE DEPT PERSONNEL SHARE TALES OF HARROWING MOMENTS AT GROUND ZERO

By Lucia Terey Anak John

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 (Bernama)  -- "We had to be careful with every step. The ground here is very soft. One wrong step and we could have been pulled in.”

These were the words which aptly described the anxious moments the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department's (JBPM) technical team faced when investigating the area around the crater formed by the gas pipeline explosion in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya, Selangor on Tuesday (April 1).

Relating his experience to Bernama, Senior Fire Superintendent I Noor Shaifful Nizam Sulaiman, 41, said their concerns were not just about the unstable ground conditions but also the risk of residual gas remaining in the area.

"In the post-explosion phase, there will be all kinds of impact. In addition to concerns about residual gas remaining, we also did not know how deep the crater was.

"With the soft ground structure due to rain a few days earlier, the area could collapse at any time. That's why we had to be extremely careful with every step that we took,” said Noor Shaifful Nizam, who was one of the five fire department technical team members involved in inspecting the crater.

He added that they were not alone out in the field as they were assisted by various agencies, including the Department of Minerals and Geoscience (JMG), which was tasked with marking safe areas with flags to ensure the inspection team could make their way safely.

In addition, advanced technology, such as drones with thermal functions, was also used to survey the conditions at the high-risk crater site.

Despite having experience in tackling several explosion cases, including that at the Empire Shopping Gallery in Subang Jaya in 2011, Noor Shaifful Nizam admitted that the feeling of fear was always there.

However, he tried to remain positive by telling himself that the Putra Heights incident would teach him many new things since the situation there could best be described as challenging and tricky.

Assistant Fire Superintendent Siti Nuraini Ab Rashid, 40, who was in the team assessing damage to the affected houses, said their challenge was not only about the risk of the buildings collapsing but also dealing with the emotions of the victims.

"At times, when we entered a house to assess the damage of property destruction, we would be scolded by uncooperative owners.

"But we were patient as we understand that they are affected emotionally and going through a difficult time," she said.

In addition to technical challenges, the inspection team also had to work almost non-stop, at times from morning till late at night, without sufficient rotation.

"In Malaysia, the number of fire department investigation officers is limited. I'm from the Negeri Sembilan JBPM and there are only 12 of us, whereas the bigger states may have 20 fire investigators.

"So, when there is a disaster, we would usually be temporarily sent out to the location but there aren't enough of us,” she said as she described the Putra Heights fire incident as a sobering incident because many families lost their belongings, especially since it occurred during the Aidilfitri celebration.

JBPM director-general Datuk Nor Hisham Mohammad was previously quoted as saying that 25 fire investigators from five states had been dispatched to the explosion site, with five of them carrying out technical investigations and the rest focusing on evaluating the percentage of damage and destruction in the affected houses.

The Petronas gas pipeline fire at 8.10 am last Tuesday saw flames rising more than 30 metres high with the temperature reaching 1,000 degrees Celsius. It took almost eight hours to completely extinguish the fire.

-- BERNAMA