The Malaysian Insight

A PARTITION was indiscriminately erected on the second floor of Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah where 23 people were killed, which prevented any chance of escape by the victims, said Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department director Khirudin Drahman.

That partition was not included in the original floor plan that was submitted by the architect in 2015 to the Fire Department for safety inspection.

In the original plan, there were two entry and exit points, but when the structure came up, it was not according to the plan submitted to the Fire and Rescue Department, said Khirudin.

Furthermore, he said, there was no application to the department for a safety inspection after the building was built.

“I am very strict on this. There is no chance that this building would have gotten my approval with this present layout,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“The original plan submitted to us was all good. But when they erected the partition, it narrowed down the chance of an escape in the event of a fire, like what happened today. There should be at least two exit and entry points.”

He said the school operator said they only started to move in seven months ago, indicating that the building was not inspected by the department.

“When a building is completed, the project coordinator has to come back to us to apply for an inspection. If the building is not according to the original plan, we will reject the application. In this case, we never received any request for an inspection,” said Khirudin.

He said the problem with most tahfiz schools was that the operator or owner did not emphasise safety because of a belief that God would protect them.

“That is why they take things such as safety lightly,” he said, adding that today’s incident was the 30th reported case involving tahfiz schools in recent years.

He pointed out that a simple item like a fire extinguisher was also missing from the floor where the 23 were killed.

“This incident could have been prevented if the developer followed the safety guidelines put in place by the department.” – September 14, 2017.