KUALA LUMPUR: The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah today officiated the 2019 World Firefighters’ Day celebration held at Dataran Merdeka.
Sultan Abdullah accompanied by the Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah were greeted on arrival by Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.
The event started off with a recitation of ‘doa’ and the fire personnel taking their service oath led Senior Assistant Fire Commissioner Norhisham Mohamad which was then followed by a speech from Zuraida.
Fire Department director-general Datuk Mohamad Hamdan Wahid then handed Sultan Abdullah an RT III knife which he placed on a piece of special equipment to mark the start of the World Firefighters’ Day celebration.
Among highlights of the event were a poetry recital, a special demonstration by Special Tactical Operation and Rescue Malaysia (STORM) team, a parade mounted by 365 contingents and a procession of 79 machinery units along with 1,551 participants from the High-Rise Rescue Team, Air Operations Division, Water Rescue and K9 Detection Units.
The procession of Fire and Rescue Department assets included the High-Performance Pump Module, Foam Tender, Water Tanker, Augusta 109 E Helicopter, Augusta Westland AW 139, Augusta Westland AW 189 and Mi-17.
In conjunction with this year’s celebration, a fire exhibition and mess night would be held on July 21 while a Firefighters’ Run has been scheduled on Aug 17 at Persiaran Cyberjaya.
Apart from community engagement and fire awareness programmes, fire safety campaigns would be also be conducted nationwide. — Bernama
