The hazy scenery of Miri city taken from Canada Hill yesterday.
KUCHING: The Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department has responded to four new bushfires today, two of which are located here.
It said in a statement that they were battling an eight acre blaze near Damai Beach Resort along Jalan Santubong and a yet to be determined acreage near the Batu Kawa town along Jalan Rantau Panjang
The other fires are at Sungai Merah (one acre) and No. 24 Jalan Tanjong Lobang (undetermined acreage) in Sibu.
The other ongoing operations are in Kuala Baram, Miri which is now into its 12th day; Kampung Sedi, Pulau Bruit (6th day); Kampung Sanki, Simunjan (third day); Kampung Bungan, Mukah (third day); Kamung Tuie, Betong (third day), Taman Harmoni, Sri Aman (fourth day); Miri-Marudi road (fourth day) and Kampung Kaong, Kota Samarahan (second day).
The total affected acreage is 744 acres.
The department has responded to 308 cases of forest, bush or peat soil fires since August 1.
Meanwhile, the air pollutant index (API) reading at the Department of Environment’s monitoring station in SK Kuala Baram 2 has risen to 324 as of 12pm.
The air quality in the area breached the hazardous level at 10am with a reading of 302, followed by 317 an hour later.
Other stations recording poor air quality are Miri Industrial Training Institute at 296, Sibu 171 and Sri Aman 102.
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 above 300 is hazardous.