MIRI: Ten firemen from Lopeng fire station on Tuesday morning were despatched to Batu 1 in Kuala Baram to extinguish a pile of scrap tires that caught fire.

Their swift action prevented the fire from spreading to an industrial building adjacent to the scene.

According to Zone 6 (Miri) Fire and Rescue chief Supt Law Poh Kiong, a team of firefighters was immediately deployed around 11.25am.

The site located about 24km from the fire station.

“One semi-trailer water tanker and a fire engine were deployed to the scene to put out the fire,” said Law.

The operation began at 11.50am and ended around 1pm.

Heavy plumes of smokes were visible nearly 100m away.

“When they arrived, firemen found that half of the scrap tires were burnt,” he said.