BY James Kon

Thirty-three water bombs from a Royal Brunei Air Force helicopter through the National Disaster Management Centre and 21 firefighters from Rimba Fire Station, Lambak Kanan Fire Station, Women Operation Unit as well as four fire engines completely extinguished the two-day forest fire in several areas.

According to the Fire and Rescue Department (FRD), the fire damaged an estimated 90 hectares of government land near Berakas Water Treatment Plant, Radar, Muara-Tutong highway heading to Universiti Brunei Darussalam, areas surrounding Universiti Teknologi Brunei, Jalan 60 and Jalan 99 of Kampong Rimba National Housing Scheme.

Firefighters faced fires at a distance of three kilometres into the forest, utilising heavy equipment and facing difficulty in locating water sources.

From January to May 5, the FRD recorded 58 calls on forest fires involving 159 hectares of land, and 66 on bush fires involving 30.2 hectares of land.

The highest number of calls recorded was in April where 26 calls were made in relation to forest fires involving 18.93 hectares of land and 21 bush fires involving 12.49 hectares of land.

The department reminded the public to be vigilant and avoid planting trees close to homes, and to refrain from carrying out open burning to prevent the flames from spreading out of control.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin