Peat fire in Kuala Langat forest reserve under control

One of the firemen putt off the fire near Putra Jaya exit from KLIA yesterday(15/06/2013/S.S.KANESAN/THE STAR)

THE forest peat fire that broke out at Compartment Eight of the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve has been put out.

“We received a call alerting us about a fire at about 10.30pm on Friday night,” said Selangor South Zone Fire and Rescue Department enforcement assistant Azrul Faizal Maariff.

“The fire occurred at KM20.2 of the Elite Expressway, heading towards Shah Alam.

“It is also about 6km from Bandar Saujana Putra.

“We successfully put out the fire yesterday,” he said.

Azrul said the size of the site damaged by the fire was estimated to be at least 36.4ha.

“We are now focusing our efforts on building a fire break to compartmentalise the blaze.

“We started digging trenches to build the fire break on Sunday morning.

“Two excavators were brought in on Sunday, and two more yesterday.

“The trenches will measure about 4m in width and 2m in depth.

“We managed to dig a trench of some 300m in length on Sunday.

“We will continue with our efforts until the two points of the fire break meet and we will monitor the situation daily.”

Azrul said yeesterday’s operation was handled by 15 firefighters from the Selangor South Zone, 20 personnel from the Forestry Department and officers from the Kuala Langat District Council.