KUANTAN: The forest and pineapple plantation fire near Kampung Cenderawasih, Pekan since March 7 has increased to 113ha compared to 94ha on Wednesday, said Pahang Fire and Rescue Department director Mohd Razam Taja Rahim.
He said so far 93.36ha have been successfully extinguished and firemen are actively working on the remaining 19.64ha to prevent it from spreading further by dividing the operation into three sectors.
Mohd Razam said the extinguishing operation involved 99 personnel from the Pekan Fire and Rescue Station (BBP) with the assistance of eight other BBPs including Nenasi, Peramu, Indera Mahkota, Kuantan over the nine-day operation.
"The operation also involves monitoring by air and extinguishing the forest fire with 'water bombing' near the pineapple plantation in Kampung Cenderawasih. The aircraft had carried out 181 water bombings at the fire location with 259,326 litres of water.
"The water is sourced from three ditches near the plantation and the bombing was carried out at a height of 100 to 200 feet while on the ground, firefighters apply the bush fire techniques," he said in a statement on Sunday (March 16).
He said however water bombing could not be carried out today due a hydraulic system issue on the aircraft, and it was directed back to BBP Peramu.
Mohd Razam said that apart from the 'water bombing' method, his party was also actively carrying out direct extinguishing, fire suppression and flooding the areas on fire. - Bernama
