THE Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) has begun dropping water bombs on forest fires in Seria as the Belait District Disaster Management Centre (DDMC) intensified efforts to contain fires across four problem areas which are yet to be fully brought under control.

Leading the on-the-ground response, the Fire and Rescue Department deployed 127 of its personnel from SPARK, Sg Liang, Seria and Kuala Belait fire stations, including reinforcements from the Brunei Shell Petroleum’s Fire and Emergency Response Service.

According to the Fire and Rescue Commanding Officer, Belait District Branch B, mild showers in the early hours of Sunday failed to dampen the fires, which were allegedly started by human action and spread rapidly due to dry weather and high winds of up to 60 kilometres per hour.

Spots throughout the district can now be seen to have been ravaged by fires, but the problem areas have been classified into four sectors; the first at KM 91-92 on the Seria-Lumut bypass near the Sg Bera industrial area, the second along the roadside of the Badas pipeline, the third along KM 17 to 20 of the Seria bypass and the fourth opposite KM 13 to 17 of the Seria bypass near the National Housing Scheme of Lorong Tengah.

“Across the four areas, over 70 hectares of forest has been affected. At this point of time, an all out effort to douse every bit of fire is not possible and our priority is to curtail it from spreading, especially to risky areas where there are motorists, houses or valuable equipment,” said Commanding Officer Muhd Shareeni Hj Mohd Yussof.

The fire in sector one has almost been brought under control, but sector four continues to be hit by fires in several spots.

Fires near the roadside near sectors two and three have also been quelled, but winds have brought the fire further inland.

Water is being drawn from two makeshift dams holding up to 18,000 litres by the road side, while areas further inland - at all four sectors - are being fought with water pumped from nearby borrow pits.

“While fighting further inland, our best measure is the water bombs,” said Muhd Shareeni, adding that helicopters were providing aerial reports of the fire’s progress.

Sg Liang’s Station Commander Muhd Ali Hassan called for enforcements from all agencies and a barrier erected, to prevent forest fires from recurring on an annual basis. The barriers should seal off access roads into the forest from several points of the highway leading to Kuala Belait, which people take advantage of to enter the area for fishing.

“These parties may have been smoking or disposing the buds improperly, or setting up fire which they didn’t extinguish properly after,” he said.

“Very unlikely that a fire could start deep in the forest, sometimes at night or before the sun rises, without human action.”

Meanwhile the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs Hj Mohd ‘Abdoh Dato Seri Setia Hj Abd Salam, who visited the base camp on Saturday, assured that fire fighters, many whom are putting in overtime, will be duly paid.