THE Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency will deploy a water bomber to the fight to put out peat fires that have raged for 14 days in Kuala Baram, Miri.

The Canadian-built Bombardier CL415 twin turbo-prop aircraft is expected in Miri early tomorrow morning, MMEA Sarawak director Robert Teh said in Kuching today.

Teh said the Sarawak government had requested for additional fire-fighting power to assist units on the ground from the Fire Department and the emergency response team of property developer Naim Group of Companies, which has volunteered its services.

Smoke from the fires in an area of around 24sq km has caused the air pollutant index (API) soaring in the nearby areas.

As of 4pm today, the API is a hazardous 364 at the Institut Latihan Perindustrian in Permyjaya, about 17km from Miri city.

The air quality at SK Kuala Baram 2 is a “very unhealthy” 271 on the API.

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

The MMEA state chief said at least two sorties will be flown daily with each sortie lasting around four hours.

The aircraft, which can scoop 6,000 litres of water in 12 seconds, is capable of flying up to 10 hours without refuelling.

Teh said two flight crews, working on rotation, will do the flying duties to keep the aircraft in the air.

The flight crews were deployed to Miri last year to fight a forest fire. They have also fought forest fires in ,Kuala Langat, Selangor,  Baling, Kedah, and south Sumatra, Indonesia.

The Fire Department said as of 4.30pm, they were battling 416 fires, 13 of them new outbreaks, throughout the tinder dry state.

Efforts to extinguish fire on 2ha of land at Kpg Sedi on Pulau Bruit – the island at the mouth of the Rajang River – entered the eighth day today, while fire-fighting efforts on 17ha of land in Kpg Sangki, Simunjan and 29ha of land in Kpg Tuie, Betong are in the fifth day.

Assistant Environment Minister Len Talif said he hoped for rain in the next few days to bring respite and rest to the firemen.

“We have done our best, but unfortunately our best is still not good enough,” he said.