BUSH FIRES: Dry weather and limited water hindering efforts

GEORGE TOWN: FIREFIGHTERS have been battling their way up Penang Hill and Bukit Gambir to put out bush fires under tough conditions.

The dry weather and limited water supply has hindered fire fighting operations, resulting in embers to be present at secluded spots while reigniting certain areas.

There are four hot spots on Penang Hill and two in Bukit Gambir.

As press time, four of the six hotspots — three on Penang Hill and one on Bukit Gambir had been extinguished.

State Fire and Rescue Department director Azmi Tamat said the bush fires could not be doused easily due to water shortage.

“The situation is becoming more difficult because the burning spots are located at slopes and are at least one kilometre away from the nearest jeep trek.

“Firemen had to carry the ‘jet shooter’ water bags in the form of backpacks to douse the flames,” he said, adding that a single bag could only carry eight litres of water.

Checks at the Botanical Gardens here yesterday showed that its main gate was closed until further notice.

The department’s spokesman said the closure of the gate was to ensure that joggers would not interfere with the fire fighting efforts by using numerous treks found at various spots to hike up to Penang Hill.

Other access points to the hill at the adjacent Youth Park and Moongate, were also sealed off, taking many visitors to the Botanical Gardens by surprise.

Meanwhile, the aerial water bombing exercise, which was supposed to take place yesterday, has been rescheduled to 10am today.

Azmi said the delay was because the aircraft, roped in from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, had to be used in Terengganu for a similar exercise.

He said that the aircraft, with a water storage capacity of 6,000 litres, would have to make about 35 trips to douse the blaze at the four spots on Penang Hill.

“The aircraft is expected to release water scooped from the sea off Tanjung Tokong and Gurney Drive.”

The airplane was seen releasing water to bush fire spots at about 6pm, yesterday.

Azmi said it was the first time the department resorted to water bombing to put out bush fires in Penang. He added that a total of 55 firefighters had been deployed to prevent fire from spreading in the six spots.

-NST