PUTRAJAYA: More fire stations are needed in the country to reduce emergency response time, says Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

       Reezal Merican said the ministry had requested for 14 more stations, adding that he will be meeting Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed to discuss the matter.

       “We need to increase capacity and this means having more across the country. Our response time is 10 minutes and this has been in their (firemen) KPI (key performance index) for around 12 years.

       “I have requested that this be reduced further to eight minutes, in line with KPIs practised in other countries. But it can only be done after the capacity has been increased in a systematic way,” he said during a press conference at the Fire and Rescue Department headquarters here.

       Currently, the department operates 324 fire stations nationwide.

       The minister also said that he would push to realign the pay grades for firefighters with other agencies.

       “I will bring up this matter for the consideration of the government.

       “You have never seen firemen be any less ready in performing their duties which have led to some losing their lives in the past. They have to expect the unexpected and as the minister in charge, I am so proud of them,” he said.

       On Tuesday (Nov 9), the minister was awarded an honorary rank of senior deputy fire commissioner by the Fire and Rescue Department.

       The ceremony was overseen by Fire and Rescue Department director-general Datuk Seri Mohammad Hamdan Wahid.