Law (third left) and others at the press conference.
MIRI: The ‘Direct Attack’ method by way of ‘water bombing’ carried out by a Bombardier CL-415 aircraft of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) yesterday was more effective as it could extinguish fire directly at the source.
Head of Fire and Rescue Department (Zone 6) Law Poh Kiong said the method was very effective in dealing with the source of fire, which is normally out of reach of the firefighters.
“It is especially effective if the vegetation is low, but among the challenges faced by the Bombardier is the source of water, which is the Baram River about seven minutes away by air,” Law told a press conference at the Bomba Air Base here yesterday, after the second day of aerial water bombing operation conducted by the Fire and Rescue Department and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
The aerial water bombing operation continued yesterday with the first sortie held from 9am to 1pm, focusing on a peat soil area called sector 2 in Kuala Baram.
“We achieved quite a satisfying result today. We are divided into three sectors – the first sector was taken care of the ground team handled by the Fire and Rescue Dept.
“Sector 2, also handled by Fire and Rescue Dept, deals with fighting the fires near the sandy path. Naim is meanwhile tasked to flood the area while the Bombardier aircraft does the fire extinguishing from the air.
“Tomorrow (today) we will go to Sector 3 or the Eastwood Sector that we have just found yesterday (Thursday). We have obtained a clearance to conduct water bombing at the area, and to ensure that fire at the sector is completely extinguished, so too is the smoke,” said Law.
Miri Industrial Training Institute (ILP), SK Kuala Baram 2 and Miri City recorded a moderate API reading of 86, 64 and 60 respectively as at 7pm yesterday.
On a related matter, Miri District police chief ACP Lim Meng Seah, said that no suspect was found to have done mischief by placing a door knob tied with dry grass to burn an area near the Hamidah Welfare Complex.
“We investigated the case under Section 435 of the Penal Code for mischief by fire,” he added.