JOHOR BARU: The present dry spell has seen firemen responding to five times more calls to fight fires this month, compared with the same period in 2024 and 2025.
Fire and Rescue Department director-general Datuk Seri Nor Hisham Mohammad said the department has responded to 3,194 fires in January.
This included 2,388 bush fires, 475 fires at illegal dump sites, 170 cases of forest fires, 96 at gardens and orchards, and others involving farms, plantations, council-run landfills, and industrial areas.
The same figures for January in 2024 and 2025 were 729 and 726, respectively.
He said Kedah alone has four major fires while Johor saw one in recent days, involving some 136ha in Johor and Kedah combined.
“The peat soil fire in Johor is the biggest, involving some 99ha in Pengerang, which has been burning for seven days.
“However, we have managed to bring it under control, with still 40% to be fully put out,” Nor Hisham said when contacted yesterday.
He added that the other active fires in Kedah include a 6ha fire at a sanitary landfill in Padang Cina, a one hectare site involving shrubs in Bukit Sri Ternas, and an illegal dumpsite in Kg Besah Tawar in Baling.
“The 30ha forest area in Ladang Jentayu, which has been burning since Jan 27, has been fully doused,” he said.
Nor Hisham added that previously there was also large scale open burning in Johor totalling 315ha, Selangor (7.24ha) and Sabah (5.66ha) which has since been put out.
“We have presently deployed helicopters to carry out water bombing activities in Kedah and Johor,” he said.
He added that the department was presently using thermal imaging to detect and monitor fires in open areas, and urged the public to refrain from conducting any open burning or throwing their cigarette butts indiscriminately, while any sighting of smoke or fire should be reported to the 999 hotline immediately to enable a prompt response.
