KUALA LUMPUR: Police had taken all necessary safety precautions before the disposal of a large amount of seized fireworks that caught fire and led to a large blaze at a police store on Jalan Sentul Works, Sentul here on Thursday evening.
Sentul police chief ACP Beh Eng Lai said the disposal of the large quantities of seized fireworks was carried out according to legal and safety procedures.
He said that he, a magistrate and a senior court assistant registrar were present to witness the destruction of the fireworks hours before the fire broke out.
Beh said members of the Fire and Rescue Department (FRD) were also present during the disposal and had sprayed water to drench the destroyed fireworks.
He said after the firemen left the site, cleaning up the debris of the fireworks was carried out soon after by loading it into dumpsters.
Beh said at about 6.25pm, police received calls from the public of an explosion at the store where seized items are kept.
He said police and firemen rushed to the scene and the fire was put out within 30 minutes.
Beh said three workers who were tasked to clean up the destroyed fireworks suffered light injuries while five policemen on duty at the store and another two workers escaped unhurt.
He said 18 cars and two lorries parked at the fire site were destroyed in the blaze and the losses are yet to be estimated.
“The FRD’s forensics team is carrying out investigations to determine what had led to the explosion at the store considering the fact that the disposal process of the fireworks was done hours earlier. We had taken all safety measures during the disposal including having the FRD personnel being present and drench the debris with water. Despite taking all these precautions, a fire broke out.” he said, urging those with information on the explosion to contact Sentul police.
Investigators believe from preliminary findings that the explosion could have possibly occurred due to the hot weather that caused the fireworks debris to be ignited.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Commissioner Datuk Azmi Abu Kassim said following the incident, there is a need re-examine the current procedures and process of disposing combustible items to ensure there is no recurrence of such cases.
He said police were complying with an order to destroy and dispose the seized fireworks which was issued by the courts.
“Perhaps we need to find a new way of safely disposing such large quantities of fireworks after receiving a report on the explosion from the FRD and Chemistry Department.” he said.
Videos and photos of the huge explosion were widely circulated in the social media on Tuesday.