Malaysia: Heavy downpour helps to put out Miri forest and peat fire

Goh Pei Pei New Straits Times 25 Aug 19;

KUCHING: Heavy downpour this morning and hours of fire fighting operation finally managed to extinguish the forest and peat fire which has plagued the Industrial Training Institute (ILP) station in Miri.

The forest and peat fire caused one of the worst haze episodes recorded in the country’s history.

Miri Fire and Rescue Department chief Superintendent Law Poh Kiong said 68 personnel from the fire and rescue department, Civil Defence Force (APM), Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM), Department of Environment and Emergency Response Team from from Naim Land Sdn Bhd began to put out fire at the site since 8am.

“The operation was temporary and had to be called off at 9am due to heavy downpour and resumed at 9.45am. The rains helped bring the blaze under control.

“We successfully extinguished the forest fire which affected about 30-acre at 4.30pm today, through the efforts of various agencies,” he said.

The patrol teams, he added, would continue to monitor the situation on the ground closely.

The IPL station’s Air Pollutant Index (API) spiked from an unhealthy level reading recorded on Saturday night to hazardous level of 415 at 6am today.

However, the situation showed a slight improvement with a reading 363 as at 6pm.

“It is likely that the API would shoot up to 500 tomorrow if we failed to control the blaze today. But fortunately there was a heavy downpour and sufficient manpower to support our operation,” he added.

On Thursday, Miri registered API of 442, which was the highest in the country, so far this year.

Meanwhile, Sarawak Disaster Management Committee said there are 97 hotspots in Sumatera, one in Kalimantan and none in Sarawak.