KULAI RUBBER FACTORY FIRE: THREE MORE SCHOOLS ORDERED TO CLOSE, BRINGING TOTAL TO FIVE

JOHOR BAHRU, Feb 26 (Bernama) -- Three more schools have been ordered to close with immediate effect following a fire at a rubber-processing factory in the Sengkang industrial area near Kulai that has been burning since Tuesday.

Kulai Member of Parliament Teo Nie Ching said the affected schools are Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Taman Kota Kulai, SK Taman Kota Kulai 2 and Sekolah Agama Taman Kota Kulai, bringing the total number of impacted institutions to five.

Teo, who is also Deputy Communications Minister, said the Kulai District Education Office confirmed that all pupils from the schools will attend home-based teaching and learning sessions until Friday.

“As of early this morning, flames are still active, and firefighting operation is currently in progress,” she said in a Facebook post.

Yesterday, two schools - Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Sengkang and SJKC Kulai Besar had also been ordered to close, affecting 1,531 pupils who will likewise switch to home-based learning.

The Fire and Rescue Department received an emergency call at 4.37 pm on Tuesday regarding the blaze, which involved a semi-permanent plastic storage facility measuring 300ft by 500ft by 80ft.

As of this morning, the 34-member firefighting operation was 90 per cent complete.

The effort has been reinforced by 11 personnel, with industry players supplying 20 drums of foam, each with a capacity of 20 litres. A further 30 drums were deployed from a neighbouring state to support the operation.

Four excavators are being used to remove debris to aid firefighting efforts beneath the piles of materials, while the Johor Fire and Rescue Department’s drone unit is conducting thermal imaging surveillance to detect residual heat sources that could reignite the fire.

-- BERNAMA