Gunung Kinabalu to have its own fire station

Sabah’s fire and rescue department will soon have a fire station at the highest point in Malaysia – Mount Kinabalu.

The fire station, to be known as the Mountain Search and Rescue Centre (Mosar), will be established at a disused hostel building in Gunting Lagadan Hut, Mount Kinabalu, which was vacated after an earthquake in 2015.

Once the fire station is operational, it will be the only station in a high-altitude area in Malaysia – at a height of more than 3,382.2m.

Sabah’s fire and rescue department deputy director Farhan Sufyan said Mosar has not had its own building since it was established in the wake of the 2015 earthquake.

Sabah experienced a 6.0 magnitude quake on June 5, 2015, which killed 18 people and injured 130 others. The 2015 earthquake lasted about 30 seconds, stranding hundreds of mountain climbers from 16 countries on Mount Kinabalu.

Farhan said the Mosar team was now stationed in a hostel room in the Panalaban area, adding that its strength is now 42 members. In the meantime, he said, a total of 259 rescue operations have been carried out since 2015, involving climbers descending from Mount Kinabalu. So far this year, a total of six rescue operations were carried out.