THE air quality in Kuala Baram, the area at the mouth of Sg Baram close to the Sarawak-Brunei border in Miri, and the residential areas of Senadin, Tudan and Permyjaya in Lutong has been declared hazardous.

The air pollutant index (API) reading taken at the Institut Latihan Perindustrian (ILP) in Permyjaya, about 17km from Miri city, at noon today was 392.

The reading was at a “very unhealthy” 334 at 3am today. 

An API reading of 0-50 is good, 51-100 moderate, 101-200 unhealthy, 201-300 very unhealthy, above 300 hazardous.

Forest and peat fires, which have been raging for nearly two weeks, are the cause for the poor air quality.

The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee in a statement said the firefighting focus today is to put out the peat fire on 20ha close to the Hamidah Yakup orphanage in Permyjaya.

It said the fire is the cause of the thick smoke blanketing the area.

The fight to put out the fires is tough, Miri fire chief Law Poh Kiong told The Malaysian Insight.

His 32 firefighters are assisted by 10 volunteers from the emergency response team (ERT) of property developers Naim Group of Companies.

The state disaster committee said kilometres-long fire breaks had been gouged out the Kuala Baram jungle to halt the advance of the fire to the areas like the ILP and a nursery called Naim Nursery.

The committee said the spread of the fire at Naim Nursery is now under control but the area is covered by thick smoke.

It also said the cause of the heavy smoke was due to the clash of the winds blowing in from the sea and those blowing out from land to the sea causing the smoke to remain stationary.

Francis Ranggau, a Lutong resident, said while the area around his house close to the Shell headquarters and oil refinery was “okay” this morning, the smell of the air last night was “quite bad”.

His house is around 10km from the Hamidah orphanage.

Miri city is largely unaffected by the Baram fires. – August 10, 2019.