KUCHING: There is an urgent need to build fire stations near longhouses in resettlement schemes.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing pointed this out following a fire which razed Uma Bawang in Sungai Asap Resettlement Scheme, 230 km away from Bintulu, on April 15.
“The Sungai Asap, Ngungun, Tada and Jagau resettlement schemes are in urgent need of Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) stations before more longhouses are burnt,” he told New Sarawak Tribune yesterday.
Masing added that as the building of fire stations was under the federal government, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government must look seriously into the matter.
“It is one of its responsibilities to look after the people before they lose their lives,” he stressed.
Asked how longhouses fires could be prevented, Masing said the longhouses must be designed in a way in order to reduce fire hazards.
“We cannot change the living styles of the longhouse residents, but we can change how the longhouses are going to be built,” he said.
For instance, Masing suggested that one block must not have more than five ‘biliks’ (rooms). Hence, a 30-door longhouse would be divided into six blocks and the gap between each block should not be less than 20 feet.
“Materials for the construction of longhouses must be endorsed by the Fire Safety Council, too,” he added.
Masing, who is also the Baleh assemblyman, hoped that by now, all longhouses in Sarawak should have fire extinguishers.
In addition, he said people in the longhouses must be taught how to put out fires at the initial stage.
Uma Bawang longhouse fire left 407 homeless; the longhouse was one of 15 longhouses built in 1996 in the Sungai Asap Resettlement Scheme.
The longhouses were built to resettle villagers affected by the construction of the Bakun Hydro Electric Dam.
