While the rest of us are safe and asleep at home, our hardworking Malaysian firemen are out at night doing all that they can to ensure that citizens feel secure during this worrying period in our country.
From 8pm to 1am, voluntary fire squads have been taking it to the streets of Penang after dark to sanitise public spaces and ease the worries of citizens at this troubling time. 18 uniformed volunteer firemen of Mount Erskine were recently seen making rounds in the neighbourhood, spraying disinfectant on things people may have touched, says reports from the Star.
“We are not sanitising because there have been cases in our neighbourhood. We just want to help and do what we can do,” said squad chairman, MGoh Chin Wah, who added that the initiative began on Sunday (22nd March) using funds from donations.
The fire engines are fixed to spray out a mist of food-grade disinfectant on sidewalks, handrails, bus stops, house gates and cars wherever they go.
Terbaiklah aggota Pasukan Bomba Sukarela Mount Erskine melakukan semburan Sanitizer OPS sebagai satu usaha untuk membasmi virus #Covid19 di beberapa kawasan di sekitar Tanjung Tokong.Diharap dapat dilakukan lagi usaha pembasmian sebegini di kawasan hot spot lain juga.
Posted by Penang Kini on Wednesday, March 25, 2020
“We focus on residential areas and public markets in Mount Erskine and use a food-grade alcohol-based disinfectant. So even if we spray it on people, it will not pose any harm,” said MGoh, while adding that they acquired enough disinfectant for 10 nights.
Even residents from Batu Feringghi and Teluk Bahang have approached these firemen to ask if their streets could be sanitized too but the chairman says this will have to depend on their supply, which is currently limited.
However, the Health Ministry has advised them to be better equipped to follow the ministry’s guidelines and MGoh said they will resume operations after receiving the gear they need.
Jackie Teng, the squad’s vice-chairman, said they spend RM800 a night to sanitise the streets,
“During each operation, we deploy one fire engine with two four-wheel-drive vehicles to refill the disinfectant,” and the they can go up to spraying about 5,200 litres of the concentrate.
And it’s not just them! Chairman MGoh added that five other voluntary firemen squads are doing the same in Penang’s mainland. 35 voluntary firemen squads have also been deployed by state welfare and caring society committee chairman, Phee Boon Poh, to clean Penang’s wet markets on alternate days.
Kudos to these firemen for going above and beyond to make us Malaysians feel safe! We appreciate all your efforts.
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