HOT WEATHER: JBPM TO MONITOR OVER 400 HOTSPOT NATIONWIDE

JBPM director-general Datuk Nor Hisham Mohamad said the focus would be on peatland areas, illegal waste disposal sites and landfills owned and operated by local authorities.

“The most worrying are peatland fires, especially in Selangor, Pahang, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak, so we will focus on hotspot locations which have been identified,” he said at a press conference after attending the annual parade at the JBPM headquarters, today.

He said the dry weather this year is expected to be worse than the previous three years.

Therefore, he asked the public to alert the department immediately if they had any information about the irresponsible party that started the fire.

“We monitor through the system as well but the most important and effective detection is the human eyes… to see and provide accurate information on the location and condition of the fire to enable us to act swiftly and better,” he said.

Meanwhile, in his first message after leading the department since Jan 9, Nor Hisham said JBPM is targeting 300 community fire brigades (PBK) and seven new volunteer fire brigades (PBS) to be established this year.

Apart from that, JBPM will continue to move the digitalisation initiative more aggressively with the implementation of two high-impact projects this year involving the modernisation of the Command, Control Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4iFRDM) control centres and the ePREMIS integrated system.

He added that the implementation of the ePREMIS system which integrates all the core service functions in the Fire Safety Division facilitates access to services including applications for Fire Safety Installation Certificates and Fire Safety Certificates by eliminating the bureaucracy of the face-to-face process that exists in the delivery of existing services.– BERNAMA