THIS year’s Hari Raya will forever be etched in the memory of Subang Jaya’s OCPD ACP Wan Azlan Wan Mamat. On April 1 2025, the second day of Hari Raya, Wan Azlan was dressing up in his new Baju Raya expecting to celebrate with family members and friends who came a calling at his home.
But little did he expect he would soon have to switch back to his blue uniform when news of an explosion in Putra Heights reached him at 8am. He had to drop all plans and head straight to ground zero. Being the senior police officer in the district, Wan Azlan took the driver’s seat as Commander for the disaster zone.
“When I reached the site, the fire was still burning. There was a huge crater. It was deep as well. The heat was unimaginable. My first instincts were to secure the site and evacuate everyone in the vicinity.”
“It wasn’t an ordinary fire. The cause of the fire had yet to be determined at 10am,” he said.
Wan Azlan said when he arrived, Fire & Rescue Department personnel were already at the scene and so was their director-general Datuk Nor Hisham Mohammad.
“Datuk Nor Hisham told me that I was the commander for the incident and he would assist me.”
“This was a disaster and I had to manage multi-agency involvement. I played the point person for anything and everything that was going to be done on site,” he added.
According to Wan Azlan, everything was handled by the book according to the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) standard operating procedure.
“We had trained for natural disasters like floods and landslides but what we had in front of us was something all of us had never encountered. But we took it in our stride and the knowledge we had to handle the situation the best we could.”
“We were relieved that there were no fatalities as a result of the explosion. Many suffered injuries and they were speedily attended to before being rushed to the hospital,” he said.
Keeping track of the ongoing operations hour-after-hour and day-after-day was the main challenge as the commander for Wan Azlan. How did he keep track of all the facts and details?
“I am to a large extend old school. I grabbed two exercise books and used it to pen down every detail as they unfolded. Every little detail was jotted down, providing me a quick reference for anything I may need to recall as the days went by into weeks.”
“Information that was shared with me I diligently wrote it down in the books. And the books followed me everywhere I went for the next two weeks, safely tucked into my side pocket for easy reference,” he smiled.
Wan Azlan said the book was also used by him to brief Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan throughout the operations.
The national disaster drew widespread attention not only locally but international. On the ground, Wan Azlan also had to manage the stream of VVIPs who arrived to obtain an update on the situation. Among them were His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, the King of Malaysia; Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim; Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain and Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.
For the next two weeks, Wan Azlan said it was a mental and physical endurance challenge for him and everyone on the ground involved in the operations.
“We had to deal with multi-agency efforts and at the same time, we also had to ensure victims were taken care of and kept updated with the progress of the operations.”
“For the first five days, I only slept two hours daily. I spent most of my time on the ground and came back to my office to nap for a while. I was up by 6am and only returned to rest around 1am. Before sleeping, I would browse social media to check on what’s been reported and check on what the plan was for the next day,” he said, adding that his office was his home away from home throughout the incident.
Wan Azlan said he could not sleep and the most he managed to catch was a cat nap. He quipped “I hardly ate during the first five days. Every time I was about to eat I would be interrupted. On the first day, I had a piece of kuih and the next meal was at 10pm”
“I felt the burden of responsibility on my shoulders and that was my driving force. On the second day, we also had to trace house owners who were not at home during the incident since it was Hari Raya and a public holiday. Many had balik kampung and they had rushed back after hearing the news.”
“I gained the experience of command and control across multi-agency cooperation. We had a lot of assistance from the Petaling Land Office and also the Subang Jaya City Council,” he added.
Wan Azlan said he was proud to serve beside so many agencies and the community.
