KUCHING: The Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) has identified and inspected 27 tahfiz schools in the state to evaluate their safety standards, said the JPBM Director General, Dato’ Sri Wan Mohd Nor Ibrahim.
His speech text was read by the JBPM Sarawak Director, Nor Hisham Mohammad, during the JBPM Sarawak annual parade at the Tabuan Jaya Fire and Rescue Station here yesterday. Wan revealed that such actions were taken due to the incident at Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school last year which saw the lives of 23 students lost in a fire.
“A task force has been established to implement inspections on all tahfiz schools in the country. “Through that, we have identified 1,238 schools including the 27 schools in Sarawak,” he said, adding that there were many more tahfiz schools that might be unsafe and needed attention.
Speaking during the assembly, Hisham revealed that the state JBPM had received 7,725 emergency calls in 2017 which showed an increment of 42 per cent from 2016. “As for the response time key performance index (KPI), the state JBPM had obtained 43.7 per cent in 2017 as compared to 41.6 per cent in 2016 and for this year, we are targeting 48.5 per cent.
“I am confident that this target can be achieved seeing as this year a total of 20 new stations are expected to start operating in addition to the 289 stations that are already here,” he said.
Hisham added that the state JBPM has initiated 767 talks, 771 demonstrations, 292 exhibitions and 366 building evacuations as part of its awareness programmes. “The community is also responsible for their safety and to prevent fires from happening,” he said.
