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Noh Omar: More than 13pct of Malaysian buildings inspected last year are at risk of fire

KUALA LUMPUR: More than one-tenth of buildings inspected nationwide do not meet fire safety standards said Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar.

He said more than 3,000 or about 13 per cent out of 23,282 buildings inspected since last year are at risk of catching fire.

He said the Fire and Rescue Services Department, which is under his ministry, has inspected 16,862 buildings last year.

Out of these, 2,194 were at risk of fire.

He added that as of May 31 this year, a total of 6,240 premises were checked with 847 deemed to be at risk of fire.

“The buildings at risk of fire included 10 government buildings out of the 73 premises in Kelantan inspected by the department this year,” he said in Dewan Rakyat today.

He was replying to a question by Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (PAS- Bachok).

However, he dismissed the possibility of an inferno similar to that of Grenfell Tower in London, which claimed at least 80 lives.

The tragedy had been blamed on the building’s flammable cladding and insulation, which helped to spread the fire.

Noh said buildings in Malaysia used different insulation materials.

“Based on our Uniform Building By-Laws 1984 (UBBL), the outer walls of buildings here must be constructed by class O materials, which cannot spread fires,” he said.

At the same time, he added that Fire and Rescue Services Department responded by issuing 15,246 notices to building owners.

They were instructed to ensure that their premises are fitted with better fire safety features.

Some stubborn owners were made to face the music.

He said 235 building owners were charged in court and fined a total of RM479,260 for failing to adhere to the regulation despite reminder notices.

Noh also paid tribute to the nation’s firefighters, saying they are the unsung heroes who helped reduce the number of fire fatalities from 153 in 2015 to 107 in 2016.

He said they also reducing property losses due to fires from RM4.4bil in 2015 to RM2.9bil in 2016, while the total value of property saved went up to RM35.8bil last year from RM29.5bil in 2015.

“Our firefighters were also champions at a recent international firefighting competition in Singapore,” he said.

Noh pointed out that they came out top among 21 firefighting teams from 16 countries.

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