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| Brunei Darussalam Page last updated at 20:52 +0800,Friday, 30 July 2010 |
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During the 50 years period, the Fire and Rescue Department has undergone various developments not only in the aspect of human resource and professionalism but also in the usage of machinery and sophisticated equipment. The achievements are in line with the rapid development and increasing current demand.
The Fire and Rescue Department which was formerly known as Fire Extinguisher Unit of the Royal Brunei Police Force was formed in 1960. Seven years later, the unit was upgraded as a department and named the Fire Brigade Department. On March 9, 2006 His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam consented to rename the department as the Fire and Rescue Department. In the early stage of its formation, the role of the department was only extinguishing fires. However, now the role has widened to cover various emergencies which are both challenging and dangerous. One such scenario was the strong winds at Kampung Ayer in 2007 and last year's floods and landslides.
Apart from that, time was also one of the main challenges faced by the department which needs accurate response time. It is important because the success or failure of any operation to extinguish fire and rescue the victims, depend mostly on the time factor.
In 1987 the Fire and Rescue Department made a landmark achievement following the first involvement of female personnel as "support staff". Before that, this profession was taken by male staff only. Today, the department has 152 fire-women including "direct entry staff". With the establishment of Women`s Operation Unit in 2006, the duties of fire-women have been diversified which cover operation and rescue. Although women are considered the weaker class, they are able to handle machinery when responding to emergency cases such as a fire or a road accident as well as capturing animals.
Due to its increasingly challenging role, the Fire and Rescue Department is always strengthening and upgrading its capability to meet the need of the mission which is "reducing the occurrence of fire and responding professionally to any emergency calls". In line with the current globalisation development, the duties of the fire personnel have also included the handling of incidents which involved materials endangering life and damaging environment. In this regard, the fire personnel who now total more than one thousand and three hundred, are equipped with operation special skills such as diving, security, investigation of fire, special squad and administration. Theses are very important to ensure that the department will continue to be relevant as an agency which provide services to the community.
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