JOHOR BARU: The Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down the effort to fill vacant posts in the Fire and Rescue Department, says Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Abd Muttalib.

       He said there were currently over 1,600 vacant posts in the department for officers and personnel of various ranks.

       “This include some 1,610 vacant rank and file posts as well as 55 officers posts in the department.

       “At the moment, only 12,416 of the 14,026 available rank and file positions in the department have been filled.

       “Meanwhile, for professional posts, only 435 out of the 490 available positions have been filled,” he said after visiting the Johor Fire and Rescue Department headquarters here yesterday.

       Ismail said the ministry was also working on its target of having 30% of all posts in the department filled by women.

       On a separate matter, he urged all firemen to be prepared for the monsoon season, especially in flood prone states such as Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor.

       On Sept 3, the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) had forecast frequent thunderstorms and heavy rains nationwide in the afternoons and late evenings, starting from the end of September until early November.