Fighting fires with ingenuity

JOHOR BARU: What started as a simple invention by a group of firemen from a fire station in Kluang almost 16 years ago to fight peat fires, has now grown into an internationally recognised invention to help the environment.

In fact, this gadget won numerous awards locally and internationally, with one organisation from Japan offering a research grant totalling almost 100 million yen (RM3.3mil).

Fire officer Dr Ahmad Faiz Zainuddin, who was previously in the department’s research and planning division in Putrajaya, said the idea for the gadget was mooted after firemen faced difficulties battling peat soil fires, which could be as deep as 3m underground and produce a lot of smoke.

“Back in 2007, the firemen at the station used whatever discarded items they could find around the premises and made the first prototype of the gadget called the GS Mark I.

“Since then, this gadget has undergone numerous changes and modifications, including the GS Mark II in 2009 and the latest GS Mark III in 2018,” said Ahmad Faiz, who has since been promoted as the commandant of the Fire and Rescue Academy (eastern region) last month.

Breakthrough tool: Ahmad Faiz (second from right) and his team testing out the GS Mark III during the Xfire Innovation Challenge in Beaufort, Sabah.

Ahmad Faiz, who has a PhD in engineering from Universiti Tenaga Malaysia, said he came on board the project in 2018, and they decided to take part in a competition known as the XFire Innovation Challenge organised by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF).

“Some 38 teams from 10 countries took part in the initial stage, but the finals, which comprised only two teams, had to be delayed to March last year due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.

“We won the competition, which was held in Beaufort, Sabah, and got RM200,000 in cash and another RM100,000 in a research grant,” he said in an interview.

He added that the money was distributed to all those involved in the project, including the firefighters who initially designed the prototype and those who had retired.

According to Ahmad Faiz, the study team received three offers between October and December of last year, including one from an Italian NGO offering a grant of US$80,000 (RM355,000) and a training grant from Germany worth 24,000 euros (RM116,700).

“The biggest grant was RM3.3mil from Japan, which wanted to put up sensors at our peat soil hotspots in the country.

Brainchild: Ahmad Faiz, who has a PhD in engineering, came on board the project in 2018.

“This gadget is gaining a lot of popularity as forest fires and haze are causing a lot of environmental problems in this region,” he said, adding that so far, none of the grant monies have arrived, but Malaysia is being seen as a major player in coming up with solutions for peat soil and forest fires.

“When we handle such fires, it is important to look at the mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery levels,” he said, adding that they were now in the midst of patenting the gadget, which had a dual role.

Asked about the cost, he said it was only between RM2,500 and RM3,000 each, and the Fire and Rescue Department now had 10 such prototypes in action, including one being used in a 12ha forest fire in Bachok, Kelantan.

He said the GS Mark III, which had the dual function of flooding an area and even spraying water at a distance, was able to cover a larger area and required less manpower to operate.

“We can now extinguish some 1.8ha of fire within 50 minutes.

“We can also carry out our fire fighting operation around the clock, unlike in the past when we had to stop when it was dark,” he said, while also expressing hope to take part in more international exhibitions to showcase the gadget to the world.