SHAH ALAM, March 7 — Open burning incidents in Selangor has reached an alarming level and must be viewed seriously said Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) director-general Datuk Nor Hisham Mohammad.
For the first two months of the year, 283 cases involving farms, plantations, forest, bushes, peat land, and landfills were recorded throughout the state.
“From the total, 26 open burning cases involved farms and plantations, forests (40), bushes (112), peat land (two), and landfills (103).
“With the current hot and dry weather, we fear the numbers may increase…compared with the 220 open burning cases recorded for the same period last year,” he said after presenting Selangor JBPM’s Service of Excellence Awards to 130 recipients at the Selangor JBPM headquarters today.
Hisham said part of open burning cases involving farms, plantations, forests and bushes was due to the opening up of new areas for farming, and such incidents need to be handled by all relevant agencies to prevent incidents of cross-border haze.
Open burning in Selangor is sensitive to the position of Malaysia in terms of statistics related to hot spots in the region due to the number of hot spots in the state.
He added the incidents of open burning in Selangor normally involve four hot spots, namely the Kuala Langat Forest Reserves in the north and south, Kampung Johan Setia, and the Raja Muda Musa Forest Reserves.
Last year, 24 open burning cases were recorded in hot spot areas, and as of February this year, two cases have been recorded.
— Bernama
