A FIRE and Rescue Department official yesterday urged the public to stop open burning as this contributes to the bushfires now breaking out daily in the Sultanate due to prolonged hot and dry weather.
Another blaze engulfed a dry woodland in the Jalan Muara area but firefighters said it was possible that the fire was not due to the current dry spell but caused by the practice of open burning.
“We suspect that someone in the area had an open burning because it is unlikely for a bushfire to occur in the middle of a suburban area,” said Station Commander of Lambak Kanan Pg Yasin.
“This blaze had actually originated from the Salambigar area and spread all the way here near Sungai Hancing,” he added.
Pg Yasin said that around 2pm, their station received a call about a bushfire that had occurred in the Jalan Muara area. When The Brunei Times reached the scene at about 5pm, the blaze had already been extinguished but the smoke and embers continued to spread and pollute the area.
Pg Yasin and his team of 10 firefighters successfully extinguished the blaze at about 6pm only to be called to another reported bushfire near Jalan Bedil, Berakas.
The firemen encountered difficulty in locating the bushfire and dousing the flame at this location.
Fire and Rescue Department personnel attempting to extinguish the bushfire in the Jalan Muara area. Officials from the department believe open burning by nearby residents to be the likely cause of the fire. Picture: BT/Amir Noor
“The fire was located too deep in the forest for us to properly extinguish it,” said a firefighter at the scene.
“We have it under control now but it is still difficult to say as some of the burning embers from the fire are still present and this is usually what causes the fire to silently spread,” added the firefighter.
The blaze at Jalan Bedil was also located near a residential area which led the firefighter to a similar conclusion that open fires lit by the nearby residents might have caused the blaze.
The Fire and Rescue Department yesterday received more than 10 reports of bushfires in the Brunei-Muara District alone and although previous records state that there have been a decrease in fire activity, many are still occurring within highly populated areas with dense vegetation.
The Fire and Rescue Department again would like to remind the public to stop the common practice of open burning.
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