Uggah: SDMC targets zero major fire occurrence in Miri during current hot, dry weather

KUCHING (Aug 31): The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) is targeting zero major fire occurrence in Miri during the current hot and dry weather, said its chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

The Deputy Premier said this after chairing the committee meeting yesterday to discuss preparations for facing the situation with all divisional and district disaster management committees as well as relevant government departments and agencies.

Uggah said the focus is on Miri because out of the 152 hotspots detected in Sarawak from Jan 1 to July 30 this year, 42 were recorded in the division.

Last month alone, he said a total of 90 hotspots were detected across the state.

“Out of these, Miri again topped the statistics with 21, followed by Kapit (16) as well as Bintulu and Sri Aman (11 each). As a matter of fact, the peat soil area in Kuala Baram in Miri is very susceptible to bush fire occurrences come each hot and dry season.

“So all the relevant departments and agencies and landowners there must be proactive in all their preparations,” he said.

He requested the Fire and Rescue Department and the state Natural Resources and Environment  Board (NREB) to fly their drones upon detecting any smoke coming from the area to monitor the situation.

He stressed that there must also be personnel constantly manning the monitoring towers in the area.

“The NREB needs to intensify its surveillance, monitoring and enforcement activities all the time,” he said.

Uggah also called for full collaboration and cooperation from all other relevant authorities, including landowners to keep bushfire occurrences at bay.

Based on the briefings by the NREB, Uggah said from January to July this year, the Air Pollutant Index (API) in Sarawak had ranged from good to moderate.

“Fortunately, we had not recorded any unhealthy API. The SOP (standard operating procure) on haze will be activated once the API reaches 100,” he said.

Uggah said the NREB has frozen the open burning permits for companies in the state since June this year.

He advised the community to avoid open burning to prevent fires from spreading uncontrollably.

He also appealed to those in longhouses and villages facing drinking water shortage to report to their district or resident offices for assistance.