TRONOH: The Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) has identified 300 locations of peat forests nationwide where fires may occur during the El Nino phenomenon, predicted to hit Southeast Asia in the middle of the year.

Deputy director-general (Operations) of JBPM, Datuk Mahadi Md Ali, said he would ensure that all personnel were on standby to cope with the situation, including placing special teams in areas with high potential for fire.

“For example, right now we are operating in Putrajaya, using the facilities that we have such as water tankers and water carriers, and we have opened an operations centre to ensure extinguishing of fire can be done and the air unit carry out water bombing,” he told reporters after the handing-over of the Tronoh Fire and Rescue Academy, here, yesterday. — Bernama