By Amin Ridzuan Ishak
SHAH ALAM, April 27 — Open fires have been put out in a total burning area of 110 hectares in Compartment 21 of the Kuala Langat Selatan Forest Reserve, says the Selangor Fire and Rescue Department.
Its director Norazam Khamis said it took the firefighters one week to battle the flames from when it started on April 18 until 3pm on Friday.
“We conducted several methods including mobilising firefighters into the forest area, flooding the area by excavating an open trench, and carrying out waterbombing operations using helicopters.
“The heavy rainfall had also helped to douse the flames especially in the last three days of the operation,” he said.
Norazam added that the authorities are still investigating the source, which could be due to the hot and dry weather. However, the possibility of land encroachment activities to have triggered the incident has not been ruled out.
