Ready to douse flames in hot and dry months

KUCHING: The Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department is ramping to combat open burning, and forest and peat soil fires in the upcoming hot and dry months.

Its director Datuk Khirudin Drahman said the department was taking a proactive approach and multi-agency cooperation was vital in preventing fires and open burning.

“All agencies will work together to tackle this, including the Natural Resources and Environment Board, Environment Department, local authorities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“For the last two years we have been using this approach, which has helped reduce the number of cases thanks to comprehensive meetings and monitoring between agencies chaired by the state disaster management committee,” he said when contacted yesterday.

According to the department, the number of calls involving forest fires dropped from 140 in 2019 to 23 in 2020 and 56 last year.

Similarly, peat soil fires recorded a drop from 96 calls in 2019 to five and 14 in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

There were also 1,720 calls involving bush fires in 2019, compared to 522 in 2020 and 781 last year.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department forecast dry weather and low rainfall distribution during the coming south-west monsoon season, which is expected to start this weekend and last until mid-September.