In its findings covering the period between January and September this year, the Fire and Rescue Department stated that there were a total of 3,172 cases of fires in residential homes due to faulty electrical sources.

The causes included faulty wiring, electrical equipment failure and user error and often using many electrical appliances at one time or having many plugs in each socket which can cause overload and increase the risk of fires.

Other factors include homeowners forgetting to turn off their electrical appliances causing them to overheat and the department stated due to these cases it is considering launching an awareness campaign to educate Malaysians.

Based on the department’s findings, fire causing factors include using loose terminal screws on sockets, wiring cables that are not installed according to specifications, worn out wires, electrical equipment failure and excessive electric usage.

Electrical appliances must have the Standard and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia or Sirim certification as more than 9,000 cases of building fires were recorded between January and September this year.

Of this number, a staggering 6,202 or 68 percent of cases were caused by electrical sources with residential premises charting the highest number of incidents at 5,047, of which 63 percent or 3,172 cases of fire were due to electrical sources.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE