THE Sarawak Fire and Rescue Services Department is overwhelmed trying to control a 400ha forest fire raging in the Sri Aman division for three days now, said its director.

Khiruddin Drahman told reporters today that with a directive by the state disaster management committee to put out the fire “as soon as possible”, he had deployed 32 men, drawn from the Kuching and Bau district fire stations, to beef up the 36 men in the Sri Aman station.

Smoke from the fire near Kg STC, together with the smoke blown across the border from Kalimantan, contributed to make Sri Aman the most hazardous air in the last few days.

While the air pollutant index (API), which measures the air quality, for the area was 212 – very unhealthy – at noon today, it reached a record 395 – hazardous level – yesterday afternoon.

The department’s operations chief, Tiong Ling Hii, however, said the number of personnel is still insufficient.

There are on average just 20 men to fight the fire in a 12-hour shift, Tiong said.

The department is battling the fire round the clock.

“We have requested men from other agencies to assist us, like from the army, but we are met with bureaucratic red tape,” Tiong said.

“Time is of the essence and yet we are asked to make our request in writing.”

The department is attempting to circumvent the red tape by asking the chairman of the state disaster management committee, Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah, to issue some kind of order.

The fire in the next two days would have to be fought solely on the ground as the Maritime Department’s Canadian-built water bomber, a Bombardier CL415, has been grounded for mandatory maintenance.

It took to the air on Wednesday but poor visibility and failure to secure the section of the Batang Lupar where it scoops water caused the “water bombing” to be aborted.

“We could not tell what is water and what are the mud banks exposed by the receding tide. Everything looked the same, a mass of brown,” said Tiong, who was on board the plane.

With the Department of Civil Aviation having now banned all flying by visual (VFR) between Kuching and Sibu, the fire department could not deploy its Russian-built Mi8 helicopter to join in the aerial bombing.

The visibility in Kuching and Sibu today is between 0.4 and 0.5km.

Khiruddin said the fires at Kg STC and at two other nearby areas – Jalan Kejatau and at Jalan Tisak in neighbouring Betong division – might be the work of arsonists.

Uggah yesterday ordered the department to make an all-out effort to put out the fires to alleviate the sufferings of the people there who are also experiencing water shortage.

The Department of Environment also moved the API measuring station at SK Kuala Baram in Miri to Serian – a town some 60km from Kuching.

He said the DOE will request for new API stations to be set up in Bau, Lundu and Betong.

There were three reported flight diversions at Sibu airport this morning, two AirAsia flights and one Maswings.

AirAsia flight AK 6090 from Kota Kinbalu had to abort its landing due to poor visibility. It was later diverted to Miri.

Flight AK 5876 from Kuala Lumpur was diverted to Miri.

A Maswings flight MWG3741 from Bintulu encountered similar problem and after being put on a holding pattern hoping for a break in visibility, it returned to Bintulu. – September 19, 2019.