Smoke from peat soil and forest fire in Kuala Baram moving towards the Senadin – Kuala Baram main road causing limited visibility to road users.
KUCHING: The air pollutant index (API) reading at the Department of Environment’s monitoring station in SK Kuala Baram 2 has risen to 353, as of 5pm today.
The air quality in the area breached the hazardous level at 10am earlier this morning, before steadily deteriorating up to 350 at 4pm.
Other stations recording poor air quality are the Miri Industrial Training Institute at 299, Sibu at 179 and Sri Aman at 108.
An API reading of between zero to 50 is good, 51 to 100 is moderate, 101 to 200 is unhealthy, 201 to 300 is very unhealthy while readings above 300 is hazardous.
Meanwhile, the state Fire and Rescue Services Department today said that some 744 acres of forests, bush and peat soil areas have been consumed by flames in Sarawak since Aug 1.
In a brief statementissued this morning, it said the number of acreage was a result of 308 cases of wildfires from Aug 1 until today.
“On average, the state department responds to about 26 cases of bushfires a day,” it said.
They battled an eight-acre blaze near the Damai Beach Resort along Jalan Santubong here as well as a yet-to-be-determined acreage near the Batu Kawa town along Jalan Rantau Panjang with other fires at Sungai Merah (one acre) and No 24 Jalan Tanjong Lobang (undetermined acreage) in Sibu.
Other ongoing operations are in Kuala Baram in Miri, which is now into its 12th day; Kampung Sedi, Pulau Bruit (6th day); Kampung Sanki, Simunjan (third day); Kampung Bungan, Mukah (third day); Kampung Tuie, Betong (third day); Taman Harmoni, Sri Aman (fourth day); Miri-Marudi road (fourth day) and Kampung Kaong, Kota Samarahan (second day).