KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — The construction of six new Fire and Rescue Stations (BBP) is expected to reduce the national average response time (NART) locations of the Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) from 84 to 78 locations.
JBPM director-general Datuk Nor Hisham Mohammad said these 84 locations were identified as needing to build new stations to improve the quality of JBPM services.
"Now we can reduce the 84 locations to 78 locations, so our next focus is how we reorganise the response location (which station to respond to which location).
"When we add stations, they actually share the risk and of the remaining 78 locations, the number may be reduced or may remain the same," he told the press after visiting the stalls of the International Fire Conference and Exhibition Malaysia 2024 today.
Previously Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming said RM1.092 billion has been allocated to JBPM in the Fifth Rolling Plan 2025 for the implementation of 70 projects next year, including constructing six new BBPs for RM 66.8 million.
The new stations are BBP Desa Petaling in Kuala Lumpur, BBP Bandar Enstek in Negeri Sembilan, BBP and Quarters Engkelili in Sarawak, BBP Dalat in Sarawak, BBP Sepanggar in Sabah, as well as BBP and Quarters Kota Kemuning, Selangor.
Hisham added that the construction of the new BBP will also help reduce the NART from two hours to less than an hour, as well as reduce the value of losses due to fire incidents and other accidents.
"A total of RM2.6 billion in losses were recorded as a result of fires last year and the amount of losses is very large, so we believe that if we allocate a little bit to build more stations we may be able to reduce the value of the losses," he said.
— Bernama
