KOTA BARU, April 15 — The Kelantan Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) has advised the public to refrain from conducting open burning, especially in flammable areas, during the current hot and dry weather.

Its director Zainal Madasin said this was because open burning would reduce the level of air quality that can have negative effects on human health.

He said the current hot and dry weather tends to spread fire faster and make it difficult to control and extinguish.

"In addition, the haze phenomenon could also occur if open burning is not controlled. Therefore, we would like to remind the public not to conduct open burning in dry weather conditions to prevent uncontrolled fires.

"According to statistics, Kelantan recorded a total of 280 open burning cases from January to March this year, an increase from the 135 cases recorded throughout last year,” he said when contacted by Bernama, today.

Two areas recorded unhealthy air quality readings yesterday, namely in Segamat, Johor and Tanah Merah, Kelantan, according to the Department of Environment (DOE).

Environment director-general Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaffar said the Air Pollutant Index (API) recorded in Segamat was 139 while Tanah Merah was 109 as of 2 pm yesterday.

At the same time, the Malaysian Meteorological Department has placed Jeli on Level 2 heatwave alert, where the district is predicted to experience high temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius for three consecutive days, starting yesterday. — Bernama