DUNGUN: About 2.5ha of peat swamp forest in Kampung Tok Kah, Terengganu has been destroyed by fire due to the hot and dry weather conditions for more than a month.

The fire which was detected last Tuesday, was aided by strong winds and destroyed several hectares of forest around the area.

State Zone Two Fire and Rescue Department chief Azmi Ab Rahim said a total of 21 firemen were still actively fighting the fire monitoring of the burned down area was being intensified to prevent it from spreading to other areas.

"This year we have started monitoring earlier than last year. As a result, we found that some patches of fire were detected, whether they were burnt naturally due to the hot spell or deliberately set on fire for agricultural purposes.

"We managed to control the fire, but there are some new locations we have identified and extinguishing work is in progress," he told Bernama when met at the location of the fire today.

Azmi said this year, the department had enlisted the help of several agencies such as the Department of Land and Minerals and the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) to find the nearest water source if they faced a similar fire problem again.

He said the DID had built several small dams in the area to facilitate the department to douse fires since the fire department had difficulties finding the nearest water source to put out forest fires last year and they had to use several ways to get water supply.

Azmi said the fire and rescue department did not rule out the possibility that open burning by certain residents for agricultural purposes had caused the peat fire. – Bernama

- See more at: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1349587#sthash.M8rRDANR.dpuf