NIBONG TEBAL – Entering the tenth day of the blaze engulfing the Pulau Burung landfill, 58% of the 11.3ha land is still on fire.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said currently only Sector Four, which makes up 2.4ha on the landfill, had been successfully cleared.
“To control the fire effectively, we divide the fire area into five sectors.
“So far only (the fire in) Sector Four has been successfully extinguished.
“After this, the focus will be on Sectors Three and Five, which have big garbage dump areas,” he said at a press conference at the state Information Department Media Centre today.
Also present were state housing and local government committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo, state secretary Datuk Dr Ahmad Jailani Muhamed Yunus, and state Fire and Rescue Department assistant director of operations Hafiz Hafizal Timaradin.
Chow said the government would also provide disaster aid amounting to RM90,000 to 90 families who had to move to temporary evacuation centres due to the fire.
Chow, who is also the exco for land affairs and economy and communications, said that a payment of RM1,000 to each family would be given next week as relief.
“The payment will involve 38 families in Byram Farm and 52 families in Kg Kebun Baru.
So far, all victims are still not allowed to move back to their respective homes until the situation is confirmed to be safe.”
Chow added that as many as nine of the schools that were closed since last Wednesday will resume operations on Monday.
He said only SJK(T) Ladang Byram Tamil will be closed due to its close proximity to the scene.
Meanwhile, Hafiz said the state Fire and Rescue Department could not estimate how long it would take to extinguish the fire in the entire area.
He said the department has received assistance from teams in Negeri Sembilan, Perak, as well as helicopters flown from Subang.
Every day, a total of 50 firefighters will be at the scene to put out the fire. After this, we will use the method of extinguishing by direct attack from the ground.”
Last week, The Vibes reported that nearly half of the Seberang Prai Selatan district was blanketed by a thick plume of smoke due to the Pulau Burung landfill fire that began on January 12.
The thick smoke originating from the dumpsite can be clearly seen within a radius of 10km, which resulted in air pollution following the hot weather spell that hit Penang recently.
The fire has affected 11.3ha out of the total area of 33.2ha.
This is not the first time the Pulau Burung landfill has caught fire, as fires were also reported in February and July last year. – The Vibes, January 22, 2022
