Penampang fire tragedy: Firemen were late as caller gave incorrect address

KOTA KINABALU: Investigations from the recent Penampang fire tragedy that claimed four lives show that firemen arrived late as the caller had given the wrong address.

In a statement on Friday (Sept 10), Sabah Fire and Rescue Department director Md Ali Ismail said four calls were received via MERS 999 (Melaka call centre) on the incident, with the first one at 2.49am on Tuesday (Sept 7).

"Callers are asked for their name, contact number, type of emergency and address.

"Sabah's Fire and Rescue operation centre as well as the Penampang fire station received the information at 2.52am, and a team was dispatched to the location.

Md Ali added that callers are kept on the line when a team is sent out in case any additional information is needed.

He said based on their records, the Penampang fire station team arrived at the location at 3.04am but the caller had given the wrong address, which was listed on the call sheet.

The department released the full investigation report following claims that firemen arrived too late to the scene at Taman Hungab, where a family of four perished in the blaze.

Some state leaders claimed that this was because emergency calls from Sabah via MERS 999 are routed to three call centres in Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Kuching.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor called for the standard operating procedure for emergency calls to be changed and simplified, including routing the calls directly to the relevant district or state.

Md Ali said the investigation found the fire had already spread to both the upper and lower levels of the house when firemen arrived.

"Our forensics team believed that the fire started at 2.32am, and as mentioned before, the victims were unable to escape due to the grilled windows," he added.