Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar revealed that more than 3,000 or around 13 percent of the buildings inspected nationwide since last year failed to meet the fire safety standards, reported New Straits Times.
According to Noh, 2,194 of the 16,862 buildings inspected by the Fire and Rescue Services Department, which is part of his ministry, last year were found to be at risk of fire. Another 847 of the 6,240 buildings checked as at 31 May were also deemed to be fire hazards.
“The buildings at risk of fire included 10 government buildings out of the 73 premises in Kelantan inspected by the department this year,” he said in replying to Ahmad Marzuk Shaary’s (PAS- Bachok) question at the Dewan Rakyat.
However, he dismissed the possibility of a deadly fire similar to that seen in London’s Grenfell Tower, which was blamed on the flammable cladding and insulation of the building.
This is because Malaysian buildings use different insulation materials.
“Based on our Uniform Building By-Laws 1984 (UBBL), the outer walls of buildings here must be constructed by class O materials, which cannot spread fires,” said Noh.
Nonetheless, the Fire and Rescue Services Department issued 15,246 notices to building owners, instructing them to ensure that their premises are equipped with better fire safety features.
With this, 235 stubborn building owners were charged in court and fined a total amount of RM479,260 for failure to adhere to the regulation despite their receipt of reminder notices.
In paying tribute to the country’s firefighters, Noh described them as the unsung heroes who helped lower property loses to RM2.9 billion in 2016 from RM4.4 billion in 2015, and reduce fire fatalities to 107 in 2016 from 153 previously.
“Our firefighters were also champions at a recent international firefighting competition in Singapore,” he said, adding that Malaysia’s firefighting team came out top among 21 teams from 16 countries.
Image sourced from New Straits Times
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