PENGERANG: The Fire and Rescue Department estimates it will take at least three days to extinguish the peatland fire that broke out near here on Tuesday (Sept 8).
Punggai fire station Team A supervisor Sharizan Selamat said a distress call came in at 6.28pm and firefighters arrived at the scene, 7.1km away, at 6.48pm.
"As of 7.30am today (Wednesday, Sept 9), we managed to put out 1.2ha of the total 12ha of burning peatland," he said in a statement.
Sharizan said the affected area is near Ladang Ibzi Punggai, a plantation in Kampung Punggai, Bandar Penawar, Kota Tinggi near here.
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"There are several smoke plumes at the location and a new flare-up has been detected due to the dry ground conditions," he said.
Sharizan said the operation involves seven firefighters from the station, led by operations commander Ezam Mostorerrodin.
In a related case, Sharizan said 12.8ha of the 17ha peatland fire at the Bukit Pelali Chinese cemetery and the Sebana-Punggai bypass road have been put out to date.
He said the operation there started at 5.08pm on Sunday (Sept 6) and is ongoing.
