The Birth of FIRE PREVENTION COUNCIL MALAYSIA (FIPCOM)

There is nothing like a major disaster to put things into perspective.

If disasters force us to reflect on what’s important, fire makes us think about the importance of what surrounds us. Wind and floods destroy things, sure, but not with the same certainty as fire – fire literally feeds off things, even the air we breathe.

Here is where the Fire Prevention Council Malaysia takes centre-stage.  FIPCOM is a government-linked NGO formed on July 25, 2007 by 23 founding members under the national chairmanship of then-Deputy Minister of Housing & Local Government, Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew. The objective of FIPCOM and its role is to complement the functions of the Fire & Rescue Department Malaysia (FRDM) by working together in coordinating and executing fire prevention activities. The Council is open to all government agencies, NGOs, professional bodies, associations, and members of the public. It, in fact, plans to establish a branch in every state.

The council scored another significant milestone when Sarawak became the first state branch and together with the founding member from Sarawak, ASSAR Dagangan, initiate its formation as early as March 2008.

FIPCOM will work together with the Housing and Local Government Ministry, which is studying whether to include voluntary firefighting squads in the Fire Services Act. Amendments to the Act is currently being considered so that these squads, which were currently registered under the Registrar of Societies, could be well assisted and coordinated. This is vital as there are now 315 voluntary firefighting squads nationwide, with a membership of about 13935 volunteers working along with the Fire & Rescue Department.

FIPCOM will strive to make it a priority and counts on the participation and efforts of tens of thousands of fire and safety professionals, emergency volunteers, and other individuals working to reduce the risk of fire and the toll it takes on our society.

As a government-linked NGO, FIPCOM strongly believes that together, we can actively contribute to sharing and collaborating experiences, case studies, resources, learning materials, methods, approaches, evaluations and any other activities or resources related to the development and delivery of safer environments and sustainability education and training towards creating greater awareness on fire prevention.

Our Objectives Presented

Our objectives outline a shared vision for FIPCOM and reflect our core values. They help us set common standards and goals in our aim to provide assistance to any organization and government agency in creating awareness on the dangers of fire and the ways to prevent it. These objectives are listed below:

1. Organize, coordinate, promote activities and assist other organizations and institutions, bodies and persons for the purpose of fire protection and prevention.
2. Educate the public on the perils of fire and guide them in establishing proper safeguards against loss of life and property by fire.
3. Sponsor, organize, implement and sustain projects like seminars, meetings, lectures, training courses, campaigns, exhibitions and other related activities.
4. Disseminate information to the public through mass media, periodicals, pamphlets, audiovisual materials, any relevant literature and any other means.
5. Organize research and analyse the various causes of fire and recommend the most efficient means of preventing or minimizing the loss of life and property; and protection to the relevant authorities.
6. Cooperate with other organizations, both local & foreign, having similar interests in promoting and improving fire prevention and protection.
7. Collect and receive grants, endowment, donations and legacies from individuals or organizations or from any other source and all monies received are to be used to promote, support and sustain activities in fulfilment of the intent of FIPCOM.
8. Hold or invest and deal with monies of FIPCOM not immediately required upon, such as securities or properties, and in such manner as may be determined with the prior approval of the Registrar of Societies and the relevant authorities.

Our Purposes Defined

There is no doubt that in an industry where change is the norm, setting an agenda to meet all necessary purposes is not easy. We constantly review our objectives against these purposes and against the feedback we get from the public and various entities. In this way, we endeavour to ensure we continue to meet the expectations of those who have placed their trust in us, in a way which is responsible and mindful to the social and environmental requirements which we face as an NGO. We believe that to be effective, we should strive to set purposes which:

1. Promotes public awareness of the importance of fire prevention, and to secure the cooperation of the public in establishing proper prevention and protection measures against loss of life and property ,in case of FIRE!
2. Studies, develops and improves fire prevention and protection measures suitable for adoption by the public.
3. Recommends, encourages, and promotes public adoption of such measures.
4. Coordinates fire prevention and protection measures promoted by any organization interested in such activities.

Fire Prevention Council, Malaysia (FIPCOM)