‘The sky was lit up in red’

Razed: A view of the smouldering landfill in Kampung Tanjung Langsat.

PASIR GUDANG: Villagers in Kampung Tanjung Langsat here woke up to a strong burning smell coming from a landfill some 1km away.

Muhammad Khairul Adnan Abdul Rahman Tan, 38, said the village was covered in thick smoke when he went for dawn prayers at 6am on Friday.

“It would usually be misty in the morning but never hazy. There was also a strong smell of smoke. At the mosque, the village chief informed us that a fire had broken out at the landfill,” he said when met at his house here yesterday.

The father of three said this was the second large-scale fire at the landfill – the first was in 2020, which took firemen two weeks to put out.

Another villager, Mohd Rafee Abdullah, 50, said he noticed the fire after closing his restaurant at 2am.

“The sky was lit up in red. I could clearly see flames at the top of the landfill. Landfill fires are dangerous because we do not know what is burning and what kind of chemicals would be released into the air,” he said, adding that the business at his eatery was affected.

“All they smelled was smoke,” he said.

Tiram assemblyman Azizul Bachok, said villagers informed him of the blaze at 7am.

“The Pasir Gudang City Council worked together with firemen to put out the blaze while the state Environment Department is monitoring the air quality in the area.

“Everything is under control and the investigation on the cause of the fire is still ongoing,” he said.

Pasir Gudang Fire and Rescue operations commander Mohd Yusri Atan said nine firemen, one Fire Rescue Tender and a utility vehicle were deployed to the scene at 12.46pm on Friday.

More than half (2.83ha) of the 5.2ha landfill site was burned, he added. He said the team had to stretch a fire hose over 213m to obtain water from a nearby fire hydrant to douse the blaze.

“No casualties were reported, and the operation ended at 6.25pm,” he added.

Village head Khadni Hamzah, 55, said he had asked villagers to keep their children indoors. “So far, nothing serious has been reported except for some children showing symptoms of cough and fever,” he said.