Stop open burning, Fire Dept urges public
SEREMBAN: The Fire and Rescue Department urged the public not to carry out open burning, especially in the current dry spell.
Its director-general, Datuk Mohammad Hamdan Wahid, said open burning should be avoided as it not only posed problems for firefighters to put it out, but it also destroyed the environment.
“Dry weather tends to ignite and spread fire faster. This makes it difficult to control and put it out. Open burning can also lead to grass, bush and forests fires. Those who go mountain or hill climbing are reminded to extinguish their (camp) fires correctly. They must not to throw cigarette butts indiscriminately as it can cause fires.
“The department has identified the locations of bush fires. It has also identified fire prone areas in forests peatlands. We are monitoring and getting ready to face any situation. For this week alone, we have detected open burning in in Nilai and Sepang, but they are under control.”
He said this after the presentation of state Fire and Rescue Department Excellence Service awards to 71 officers and personnel, as well as 30-year service certificates to four officers and personnel here yesterday. Present was the department’s state director Norazam Khamis.
He said Sepang was identified as the largest peatland in the Klang Valley and was a sensitive area too as it was near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
“The peatland is flammable, especially during hot weather.”
Commenting on the Dragon Star 1 passenger ferry that caught fire in Langkawi on Monday, he said the department’s forensic team and other agencies were investigating the cause.
In the 2.45pm incident, 52 ferry passengers were rescued after the ferry they were travelling in caught fire as it departed from the Kuah Ferry Terminal in Langkawi to Kuala Perlis.
Meanwhile, Norazam said 77 cases of bush fires and 140 cases of grass fires were reported in the state from Jan 1 to Feb 18 this year.