thestar.com.my > News > Nation - Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - King and Queen visit fire dept's new HQ

PUTRAJAYA: The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Siti Aishah visited the new Fire and Rescue Department headquarters here yesterday. The royal couple was greeted on arrival by Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting and department director-general Datuk Jaafar Sidek Tambi.

In his briefing, Jaafar said of the 260,785 emergency calls received by the department from 1990 till March this year, 12,137 were prank calls. During the same period, property worth RM38.6mil was saved while goods valued at RM4.3mil were destroyed. He said 663 people were killed and 1,009 were injured in fires during the period. Jaafar said the main causes of fires in the country were indiscriminate disposal of cigarette butts and short-circuits.

The King and Queen were taken on a guided tour to the control room at Lebuh Perdana Barat, witnessed a fire drill and visited an exhibition held in conjunction with their visit. The four-storey RM52mil building on a 3.3ha site equipped with sophisticated facilities is part of the Federal Government Administrative Centre project.--Bernama