Firemen help others before their own families

PETALING JAYA: A senior fire official was so caught up with rescue work that he could not return to his own house when it was flooded.

His wife had to be evacuated via a water storage tank on Sunday, thanks to his colleagues who helped him out.

It had been a hectic time for Fire and Rescue Department operations division director Datuk Nor Hisham Mohammad, whose office is in Putrajaya, when floods hit parts of Selangor last Saturday.

On that day, he arrived home in Banting from work and helped his neighbours to move their furniture as rainwater had entered their houses. But later that afternoon, he went back to his office to handle flood rescue work. He did not even go home that night.

The next day, he heard that his house was flooded.

“I told my wife to lie on the dining table, along with our two cats and wait for help,” he said.

His wife has anemia, so he did not want her to get dizzy and fall into the water. Their 18-year-old son was at a friend’s house at that time.

Nor Hisham then sought the help of his driver and an officer to evacuate his wife.

He had a water storage tank that he kept at home, so it was used to “transport” his wife.

Nor Hisham said he had to stay focused on flood rescue operations in Selangor, where many residents were facing great adversity.

“But I was also keeping tabs on my wife’s situation,” he added.

Nor Hisham had been so busy that he only went home yesterday. For now, he has to start cleaning his house and replacing damaged furniture.

“Our cars were also damaged by the floods,” he said.

Another fireman, Mohd Arif Zakaria, who was deployed to rescue flood victims in Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam, on Sunday morning, said his main priority was to save those hit by the floods despite the facing a similar situation on the home front.

Mohd Arif, who lives in Taman Sri Muda, could only to return to his own home yesterday, almost six days after the floods first hit.

“The entire first floor of my home was flooded. My furniture has been destroyed, all covered in dirt and mud,” he said.

His car was damaged, as were 10 motorcycles in his house, some belonging to his friends.

“Because the area was flooded for at least three days, the damage to my belongings was quite extensive.

“When I left for work at 5pm on Saturday, the water level was already up to my waist,” he said.

But Mohd Arif focused on his duty, to help people in need.

“The first rescue operation that I was involved in lasted for 24 hours from Sunday to Monday morning,” he said.

“I was focused on rescuing those stranded in their own homes, especially pregnant women and children. When I went to save pregnant women and babies as young as two weeks old, I knew that my troubles were not as big as theirs,” he said.

It was firemen like him who were mentioned by Fire and Rescue Department director-general Datuk Seri Mohammad Hamdan Wahid.

Mohammad Hamdan spoke of the selfless men and women of the department who did not waver at all in their determination to help the public.

Some of them were so deep in the rescue work that they did not even know where their own families were being relocated to during the floods, he said.