50 years of service to the nation

The Dennis F105 pump escape (circa 1960) -courtesy BFRD archive

Today 9 March 2010 Brunei Fire and Rescue Department (BFRD) celebrates its 50th years of dedicated service to the nation. During the period itself the department had been developing itself in term of manpower, equipment and technical aspects and its infrastructure.

In its early years of formation the department was known as "Brunei Fire Brigade" and most of the equipment rely on British military basic firefighting equipment which were left by after the war. Under the command of the police force the brigade received its first "true" firefighting appliance which is the Dennis F105 pump escape, this development is the base of the department development until today.

The department keep developing and developing as time goes by and also as Brunei develop itself. In 1967 the department receive two new Bedford SH with Magirus Turntable ladder in order to cope the development at Brunei Town which require high rise firefighting cover. During the upcoming period the brigade also had formed its own marine fire brigade which consist of several fire launches and major size fireboat for firefighting at Kampong Ayer.

1980s onwards saw the development of the brigade, RESCUE squad which handles the specialist cases such as RTAs and technical rescue also formed during the period and in 1986 the department formed its first squad of Women Firefighter squad. This women firefighters jobs during the period are limited to communication and non-operational works however in 2006 the women firefighters role are extended to operational and act as second responders at incident site along with their male counterparts.

1980s also saw the department change its name with adding the word "services" and known as Brunei Fire Services Department until 2006. This is because the department core-business are not only focus on conventional firefighting but more towards service to the community. However on 9 March 2006 the department change again its name into "Brunei Fire and Rescue Department" after the department core-business once more change and expanded from services towards rescue orientated calls.

Currently the department operates more than 60 fire appliances which runs from 20 different fire and rescue stations scattered in different operational command areas. The department units also had been expanded with the formation of the Special Squad, Hazardous Material (HAZMAT), Women Operational Unit along with the regular operational fire and rescue specialist. This is to meet the demand of the natural and conventional disaster.

Happy 50th anniversary