KUANTAN: The Pahang Fire and Rescue Department has put out the fire in 70 per cent of 60 hectares of forest land in the Gebeng industrial area here which occurred last Monday.
Its director Nor Hisham Mohamad said the strategy to create blockages and raise the water level in the area had stopped the fire from spreading to other areas.
“The early strategy to control the fire in the main area and flooding it seemed to be effective in putting it out by the fourth day today.
“We are using a tactical combination, which is to raise the overall level of water by building blockages while our firefighters put out the fire directly, “ he told reporters here today.
Nor Hisham added the use of two high-capacity pumps, including one borrowed from the Terengganu Fire Department since yesterday, enabled water to be drawn from two lakes in the forest.
"The two pumps helped us raise the water level as some of the affected areas had very low water supply which made it difficult to fight the fire,” he added.
Nor Hisham said the operations today involved 44 fire officers and personnel, including 30 volunteers from the Gebeng Emergency Mutual Aid (GEMA) and from the main factories here which were KANEKA Malaysia, Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd, and Petronas Chemical MTBE Sdn Bhd, with help from the Alliance Steel (M) Sdn Bhd factory.
He said the department had to consider the risks its personnel had to face in the operations, which included the possibility of being trapped in the forest fire, the presence of sinkholes in the areas which could cause the firefighters to fall into the ground by as deep as one metre, and the danger from falling trees.
Nor Hisham said the fire department had taken all the necessary measures to ensure that its personnel were not exposed to long-term risks from smoke inhalation.
The forest fire in the industrial area, first observed on Monday evening, was believed to have started near the lakes, probably after anglers built a fire there. -- Bernama