KOTA KINABALU (Jan 21): House fires and road accidents have increased during the Chinese New Year celebrations for the past three years.

State Fire and Rescue Department deputy director Lizalman Abu said, there has been an increase of house fire and road accidents during the Chinese New Year celebrations from 2022 to 2024.

“In 2022, 28 house fires were recorded during that year’s Chinese New Year celebration, with 20 of the cases caused by electricity and eight cases were caused by negligence while in the kitchen.

“In 2023, we saw an increase of 10 cases of house fire during the Chinese New Year holiday season with 38 cases. From the figure, 31 of the cases were caused by electricity and seven cases from the kitchen.

“The following year’s Chinese New Year celebration (2024), we again saw an increase of 45 house fire cases with 39 cases caused by electricity and six cases were due to negligence in the kitchen,” he said during the Fire Safety Campaign and the launching of ‘Ops Musim Perayaan’ at City Mall here today.

The event was officiated by Invest Sabah Berhad deputy chairman George Wong Hshueh Cheng, who represented Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe.

Meanwhile, Lizalman said there has also been an increase of road accidents during the Chinese New Year festive holiday between 2022 to 2024.

“In 2022, we recorded 31 road accidents, followed by 33 road accidents in 2023 and 53 road accidents in 2024.

“We will continue to organise more fire safety and road safety campaigns not only during the Chinese New Year festive season but also other festive holiday seasons in the state.

“This is to ensure that the public, especially those who will be going back to their hometown, will be more careful when leaving their home unoccupied and while traveling on the road,” he said.

Lizalman added that all campaign materials on fire and road accidents prevention, could be obtained from the Fire and Rescue Department website.