Mohd Roji Kawi New Straits Times 6 Aug 19;
KUCHING: State Fire and Rescue Department has urged Sarawakians to stop open burning activities in the current hot and dry weather to avoid triggering haze.
Its assistant operations director Tiong Ling said 66 bush fires have been reported in the first week of August, all of which originated from open burning.
“Since Aug 1, we have received 66 reports, involving 50 hectares of land size in Kuching, Serian, Lundu, Simunjan, Sri Aman, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri and Limbang.
"If the situation continues, we fear that the haze will return to Sarawak soon. Hence, the people need to stop conducting open burning,” he said.
Sibu, he added, recorded 10 cases, which was the highest, followed by Petra Jaya with seven cases.
Meanwhile, the air pollution index (API) in the registered areas recorded moderate reading today.
Miri recorded the highest reading of 87, followed by Sibu (71), Bintulu (71), Kuching (69).
Last week, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said Sarawak Disaster Management Committee will be holding a meeting soon to discuss haze-related problems and gear up to handle the situation.
