KUCHING: Firefighters yesterday battled the forest fires at Similajau National Park in Miri for the fifth consecutive day.
The fires, which affected three acres of land, were ignited by the hot and dry weather conditions.
Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) director Khirudin Drahman said they hoped to totally put out the fires by today.
“We used aerial water bombing for 70 per cent of the burning forests while our firefighters extinguished the fires in other areas,” he told New Sarawak Tribune yesterday.
He said luckily, it rained in some areas such as Miri, Limbang, and Lawas.
“Although the weather conditions have improved a bit, members of the public are advised not to do any open burning activities.
“This is to prevent peat fires,” Khirudin added.
On March 22, there were also peat fires in Limbang, caused by open burning.
Meanwhile, the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings from the Department of Environment (DOE) website showed that most places in Sarawak registered good air quality at 1pm yesterday.
Sibu, Bintulu, Samalaju, Miri, Limbang, however, registered moderate air quality.
The API reading from 0-50 is classified as healthy, 51-100 (moderate), 101-200 (unhealthy) 201-300 (very unhealthy) and 301 above (hazardous).
