Miri based Fire and Rescue Department helicopter in operation to help put our open fires in Kota Belud on Sunday (Mar 10).
KOTA KINABALU: The Fire and Rescue Department is dispatching a Sarawak-based Mi17 helicopter to help fight open and peat fires in various areas across Sabah.
The department's director-general, Datuk Nor Hisham Mohammad, said the Miri-based helicopter would be used for water bombing operations to control fires in large open areas.
He said with the current dry spell, firemen are expecting a surge in the number of open fires and peat fires.
"Based on the statistics of the previous three years, Sabah and Labuan each recorded an average of 820 and 116 cases of open fires per year involving forests, fields, bushes, and garbage.
"As a preliminary step, we have mapped out hot spots for open fire incidents based on fire trends three years before," he said after presenting the Excellent Service Award and Certificate Year 2023 at the state fire department headquarters here Sunday (March 10).
Also present was Sabah Fire and Rescue Department director Abdul Razak Muda.
Nor Hisham said that Sabah had 114 identified hot spots involving a total area of 27,815.39ha.
As of March 9 this year, open fires were reported in seven locations around Kota Kinabalu, Tuaran and Kota Belud Districts.
Other open fires occurred in a hilly area covering about 1.5ha on Gaya Island, the UUC Telipok forest fire (3ha), Kampung Simpangan Tuaran (2ha), Jalan Layar Impian Tuaran (2.5ha), Jalan Dungang Tambalang (2ha), Kg Kimo Kimo Kota Belud (18ha), and Kg Liang Kota Belud (30 acres).
Nor Hisham said that extremely hot and dry weather, with temperatures sometimes reaching 38 degrees Celsius, saw Sabah record a high number of open fire cases in the first quarter of this year.
"The extremely dry conditions were also due to the absence of consistent rain in the first three months," he added.
Meanwhile, in northern Kota Belud district, firemen have been fighting an open fire in a secondary forest area in Kampung Kimo-Kimo, Kondis, for the last 48 hours since Saturday (March 7).
According to firemen, the area involved was about 20ha, and they managed to put out the fire in an area involving 12ha amid problems reaching open water sources.
A spokesman said that their fire trucks could not reach the areas and had to resort to sourcing water from neighbouring villagers to use water pumps and fire-beating methods. The operations are still underway.
