PUTRAJAYA, Dec 14 — Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming today said that his ministry and the Fire and Rescue department is ready to face the second wave of heavy North-east Monsoon rainfall which is expected to start this Saturday.
Nga said the first wave happened from December 7 to 12 while the second wave is expected to happen from December 17 to 20 which will bring heavy rainfall of more than 150mm per day.
“This step includes deploying the strength and membership of the fire brigade consisting of 12,857 full-time officers and 2,111 auxiliary fire officers.
“Bomba has also identified 6,323 high-risk areas and monitoring is done every day to ensure the public’s safety,” he told a press conference at Bomba headquarters here today.
Nga spent a couple of hours getting briefings and visiting assets that have been recently given to the Fire and Rescue Department in addition to the establishment of the North-east Monsoon Red Team Special Operations Team which was launched on October 28.
They had also established a Regional Forward Base which was previously located in three locations at the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Academy Eastern Region, Terengganu for response in the Eastern Region area; Perda Fire and Rescue Station (BBP), Penang for response in the Northern Region area; and BBP Ayer Hitam, Johor for response in the Southern Region area.
“In terms of land and water logistics strength, this readiness involves 584 units of light transport vehicles, 140 units of heavy transport vehicles and 487 units of marine vehicles including 62 boats of various types donated by companies, NGOs and individuals with a total of 1,211 units,” he said.
Nga said the Fire Department is also monitoring around the clock 6,323 high-risk areas prone to flood, landslide, and water column phenomena around the country.
