By Nancy Nais
KUCHING, Sept 11: After eight days, operations to douse forest fire at Taman Sri Perkasa, Jalan Camar in Matang, finally came to an end.
The state Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) also successfully combat another forest fire at Kampung Lubuk Bunting in Kota Samarahan, which ended after the sixth day operation.
Sarawak Bomba acting deputy director Tiong Ling Hii said they have responded to 202 cases of forest, bush and peat fires statewide since Sept 1, covering some 320 acres of land.
“Operations are still on going for forest and peat fires at Kampung STC in Sri Aman (7th day) and Kampung Pemukat in Kuala Lawas (5th day). On the average, we responded to about 20 cases per day,” Tiong said.
On behalf of Bomba Sarawak, Tiong expressed his gratitude to the general public including media partners for their generosity and concern by providing assistance in the form of food, beverages, tents, drones, excavators, face masks and non-stop moral support through social media or directly at the location where firefighters were combating forest fire.
Meanwhile, State Disaster Management Committee secretariat Major Ismail Mahedin said as of 4pm today, the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings remained unhealthy for Kuching, Samarahan and Sri Aman at 123, 102 and 144 respectively.
The remaining 10 stations recorded moderate readings, below 100.
So far, 11 hotspots detected in the state are located at Sarikei (4), Kapit (2), Bintulu (2), Sri Aman (2) and Miri (1). — DayakDaily
