KANGAR - About 90 per cent of the 600 fires recorded in Perlis from January to April are open burning cases, Perlis Fire and Rescue Department director Snr Fire Supt I Mohd Zaidi Ma'at.
He added that the open burning would occur in undergrowth areas, orchards, fields, recreational areas and farmland, as well as roadside areas that could pose a public safety risk and advised the public not to conduct open burning during the hot season as it would pollute the environment and could cause losses.
"Stop all open burning, if you really need to do it, control the fire so that it doesn’t spread to other public areas.
"There have been cases where wildfires grow out of control till it destroyed workshops, vehicles, causing property losses and threatening lives,” he told Bernama recently when asked to comment on the Malaysian Meteorological Department’s forecast that the south west monsoon that began on May 17 would last till September.
He also shared that the loss of property recorded from the 600 fires throughout January to April totalled RM2,366,350. - BERNAMA