Today Paper Pg.6 - Thu, Oct 8, 2009
The most recent blazing news, when a 14-year-old boy was charged with arson, causing substantial damage to a mosque which could cost more than 1 million dollar!!
*GASP*
Mana-mana aku pegi, aku dgr sumer orang cakap budak tu yang salah. And I know korang pon salahkan budak tu kan?? teeehehe...korang silap!
Tak fair nak blame him alone. Kiter pon tak tahu ler aper masalah peribadi yg menyebabkan dia nak bakar masjid tuu..but then, we still need to take a look at the full perspective of the whole incident in details.
Sebenarnya, aku salah kan pihak pentakbiran masjid tu jugak. Jawatankuasa masjid tu seharusnya telah menyediakan emergency activation dan contigency plan sekiranya belaku sesuatu kebakaran.
Masjid-masjid di sini telah di category kan sebagai 'Places of Public Resort', dimana sekurang-kurangnya seorang Fire Safety Manager dan seorang Fire Warden harus dilantik. So, jika berlaku kebakaran atau kecemasan pada bila2 masa, pihak masjid tahu mcm mana nak mengawal situasi dari terus merebak.
Sebagai place of public resort, adequate fire protection system should have been in place. (eg, alarm call points, fire extiguishers, hosereels)
So, what are these fire fighting items for? Gantung kat dinding masjid buat perhiasan?? NO! These are the first line of defence whenever there's a fire break out!
Tak yah nak tunggu abang-abang bomba ne-no-ne-no sampai, baru nak step hero lawan api. By the time, bumbung pon dah ranap cecah bumi....
All these basic fire fighting equipments are for public to use in order to curb the spread of fire. Mana fire warden masjid? Mana fire safety manager masjid? Mana pegawai-pegawai masjid at that moment of time? Tak tahu nak pakai extinguisher ke? Tak tahu nak bukak hosereel to fight fire?
First thing aku nak soal. Are the fire extiguishers available and in working condition at that point of time? Are the staff trained to use these items during emergency?
What i have been observing lately, banyak extiguishers kat masjid-masjid disembunyikan simpan kat dlm office. Therefore, it's not readily available during emergency for public to use.
Lagi satu, all staff are not well-trained to use these equipments (extinguihers, hosereels) so biler terbakar, sumer panic pasal tak tahu mcm mana nak pakai. By the time, its a bit too late to curb the spread of fire until the fire engine arrives.
Banyak pentakbir masjid2 aku tengok ambil sambil lewa tentang benda2 mcm nie ahh. Bagi mereka ianya sesuatu yg remeh-temeh. Test hosereel pon tak pernah nampak.
Korang tau tak, yg hosereel tu need to have a certain pressure so that it can reach the minimum water throw of 6m?? Do you know that fire extiguishers has certain category classes (Class A, B, C)and expiry dates? Do you know we need to provide at least 10m-15m radius between each fire extiguisher? Do you know these extiguishers need to be visually seen at all time?
Korang tau tak, langsir korang gantung kat masjid tu need to be at least a class 1 fire spread material? Bukan mcm kain langsir korang gantung kat umah korang utk hari raya tau!
If the above precautions are being taken into consideration and complied, I don't think the damage would have been that bad. Terbakar memang ler terbakar, tapi tak ler sampai bumbung masjid ranap terus, betol tak??
Other related news: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/cgi-bin/search/search_7days.pl?status=&search=siglap%2520mosque&id=1009796
ps: Bukan salah ibu mengandung, tapi pihak-pihak masjid juga harus dipertanggungjawabkan kerana isu fire safety nie tak seharusnya di ambil sambil lewa. Lives could have been lost!
