JOHOR BARU: The Fire and Rescue Department is ready to support any decision by the government to provide assistance to Indonesia to put out the forest fires in an effort to combat the regional haze situation.
Its director-general Datuk Seri Nor Hisham Mohammad stressed that any overseas deployment would be subject to a formal request from the Indonesian government, followed by approval and coordination through local and Asean mechanisms.
Asked about the manpower required for such an operation, he said that no fixed number of personnel has been determined at this stage.
He added that the size and composition of any contingent would be based on the scope of assistance requested, the location and scale of the fires, the type of expertise and equipment required, the duration of the mission, logistical arrangements and the ability of the team to remain self-sufficient.
“We will definitely deploy personnel experienced in forest and peatland firefighting, incident command, logistics, communications, emergency medical support and aerial-operation coordination,” he said in an interview.
He stressed that under Asean disaster-response arrangements, the affected country determines the scope and type of assistance required, while the assisting country assesses the resources it was able to provide.
Nor Hisham was commenting on government spokesman Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil comments on Wednesday that Malaysia was ready to deploy assets to help Indonesia address fires contributing to the current haze situation, but was awaiting confirmation before mobilising them.
Fahmi said the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) Ministry and Wisma Putra had informed the Cabinet that the list of assets had been conveyed through diplomatic channels.
"However, so far, there has been no confirmation on any form of cooperation involving the use of Malaysian assets to help put out fires and so on," said Fahmi, who is also Communications Minister.
In 1997, Malaysia sent 1,200 firefighters to various locations in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
