LUNDU: Firefighters continued battling a forest fire at the Samunsam Forest Reserve here for a second consecutive day today, with difficult terrain and the lack of a water source hampering efforts to put out the blaze.
The fire, which was estimated to have affected about two hectares, saw firefighters and personnel from the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) entering the affected area to carry out suppression operations.
The Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) said, the firefighting operation began at 8.20 am today, followed by a briefing for personnel at 10 am.
At about 10.20 am, seven firefighters and six SFC personnel entered the forest, about 400 metres from the command post, to tackle the fire.
As the fire was scattered in several patches, firefighters used fire beaters to extinguish the affected areas.
As of 5 pm, approximately 0.1 hectare had been successfully extinguished, leaving an estimated 1.9 hectares still affected.
The operation was subsequently suspended at 5 pm and will resume tomorrow (Sat, Aug 22).
Bomba said access to the fire site remained challenging as the route from the main road was about one kilometre long.
The absence of a water source at the affected location and the hilly terrain also posed additional challenges to firefighting efforts.
The fire was initially detected through drone monitoring by SFC, with Bomba subsequently deployed to the location for monitoring and firefighting.
