MMEA’s Bombardier strengthens aerial assault on Kuala Baram’s raging peat fire
MIRI: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency’s (MMEA) Bombardier aircra began its water bombing operation yesterday to help prevent the raging peat fire in Kuala Baram from spreading further.
Zone 6 Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) chief Ismaidi Ismail said the aircra is expected to speed up the firefighting operation as it could drop 6,000 litres of water on a single run and needs only 12 seconds to refill its load.
“The Bombardier will get water from the Baram River and it is expected to be making about 10 runs or about 60,000 litres of water dumping,” he told The Borneo Post at the operations centre.
He said Bomba’s Mi17 aircra did 20 runs from 11am until 1pm, involving about 32,000 litres.
“We hope that the weather would be on our side today as we ba le the raging peat fire, which had thus far destroyed over 100ha of land in Kuala Baram,” he said.
The Bomba air unit was called in to assist in the firefighting operation and completed 35 runs as of 5pm Tuesday, dropping 54,000 litres of water from nearby lake.
Ismaidi said the team had focus on both aerial and ground ba les yesterday with manpower assistance from several agencies, including private land owners such as Naim Land Sdn Bhd and Woodman Group of Companies.
He also requested manpower from the army’s 20th Ba alion of the Royal Malay Regiment (20 RAMD).
“We cannot depend on aerial water bombing only. It has to be two ways, both aerial and direct a acks.
“We really hope that we can contain this peat fire as soon as possible before it spreads to a bigger area,” he said.