JOHOR BARU, Oct 17 — The Johor Fire and Rescue Department has successfully extinguished a fire involving 23 hectares of forest in Pengerang near Kota Tinggi after three days of operation.
Sebana Cove Pengerang Fire and Rescue station chief Mohd Khairul Sufian Dahari said nine hectares of the forest area was still ablaze at the Sebana Cove-Punggai bypass.
He said a total of 15 firemen and three fire-fighting machines from the Sebana Cove, Punggai and Kota Tinggi fire and rescue stations were involved in the operation.
“Various techniques were employed during the operations where the fire extinguishing efforts were divided into five sectors namely A, B, C, D and E.
“The total flooding technique using fixed monitors from open water sources in nearby areas were used to extinguish the fire in sectors A and C.
“There was a total of 27 water releases from AW139 firefighting helicopters and 18 water releases from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency’s (MMEA) amphibious Bombardier aircraft,” Mohd Khairul said in a statement today.
He was giving an update on the efforts to extinguish and contain a forest fire at the Sebana Cove-Punggai bypass.
The current hot and dry spell with temperatures exceeding 36°C has made it difficult to control and extinguish the blaze.
As a result, the surrounding areas were covered in smoke, limiting visibility to only 2km.
Meanwhile, the Johor MMEA deployed its amphibious Bombardier CL415MP aircraft to assist with the fire-fighting efforts.
Johor MMEA director Maritime First Admiral Nurul Hizam Zakaria said the aircraft was deployed to assist the state’s Fire and Rescue Department in extinguishing the fires that have spread to 32 hectares of land.
“Aid was provided after visuals from a drone air surveillance found that the fire had spread from two hectares to 32 hectares in the past three days.
“The department then alerted the Kota Tinggi district office, which requested help to conduct water bombing operations on the affected areas,” he said in a statement today.
Nurul Hizam added that the department’s aircraft is able to carry 6,000 litres of water and has made 18 water bombings today.
“We will continue to assist the operations until the forest fires have been put out.
“The public is advised not to conduct any open burning activities that could further worsen the condition, especially near the area,” he said.
