Firefighters putting out a fire in a forest area in this picture from the State Bomba yesterday. – File photo
KUCHING: State Fire and Rescue Department has recorded 359 cases involving wildfires at forests, bush and peat soil from August 1 to yesterday.
According to a statement released by Bomba today, a total of 796 acres of land were affected by the fire.
Bomba stated that 63 cases were recorded yesterday, compared to 58 cases on last Saturday and 55 cases on Sunday.
It was revealed that Kuching recorded the highest case of bush fire as of yesterday with 19 cases reported, followed Sibu with 11 cases and Samarahan with seven cases.
“On average, we have responded to 30 cases of bush fires every day,” it said.
Meanwhile, three air pollutant index (API) monitoring stations had recorded poor air quality.
According to the Department of Environment’s data released through the MyIPU app, as of 10am today, the highest API reading of 352 was recorded at the station at Miri Industrial Training Institute, followed by SK Kuala Baram with 312 and Sri Aman with 136.
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 considered hazardous.