The smog is hitting some areas badly – and it is probably caused by fires and open burning in surrounding areas.
The API reading in Bintulu at 5.00pm was 110, Miri – 121, Samarahan – 111 and Port Klang – 113. Anything above 100 is unhealthy.
A contact in Sarawak told me that a friend of his on a flight from Kuching to Sibu tonight spotted open fires all around as the plane approached Sibu.
Two Sundays ago, another friend of his driving from Bintulu to Kuching spotted similar open burning along the way.
What are the authorities doing about such open burning?
Blog reader G reports:
Sibu, Sarawak is the worst affected area…166 this morning and 153 at 5.00pm. Even with all the windows closed and aircon switched on, we can still smell the haze. A lot of this is (allegedly) caused by the local oil palm companies that slash and burn on their lands. Don’t blame the Indonesians everytime.
Chew PS reports on the situation in Klang:
I was in Klang on Sunday morning and the haze was very bad. The smoke could be clearly smelt and it appeared that the smoke was coming largely from local fires. I read of three fires nearby Kuala Selangor recently. It is clear that a significant amount of the haze in the Klang/K Selangor/Sg Buloh area (where the smoke could also be smelt on Sat morning) is from local sources. What is being done to contain these fires? Can someone living nearby the affected areas check and confirm if the authorities are trying to put these fires out?
Blog reader Karen Lee seems to know precisely where the fires around Klang are:
Klang’s haze comes from two places….
Johan Setia (between Jalan Kebun and Banting exits on the kesas highway)
Jalan Kebun Tambahan (from Jalan Kebun exit, drive about 2 km)
We the residents living in Kota Kemuning, Bukit Tinggi, Bandar Puteri Klang, Bandar Botanic, Berjaya Park are up in arms over what we can do; we have already liaised with YB Elizabeth; all the fire fighters can do is put out the surface fires…. the underground fire is burning in the peat land.
Short of flooding the area (no water source to do that) to completely put out the fire, those twp places have been burning for almost three months…..
We have encountered this for almost ten years now….
Nothing in the media about this?
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4 Responses to “Fires causing haze in Sarawak, Klang”
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Malacca is experiencing haze too Anil for the last couple
of days. This morning was really bad in some areas.
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Sibu, Sarawak is the worst affected area…166 this morning and 153 at 5pm. Even with all the windows closed and aircon switched on, we can still smell the haze. A lot of this is caused by the local oil palm companies that slash and burn on their lands. Don’t blame the Indonesians everytime.
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I was in Klang on Sunday morning and the haze was very bad. The smoke could be clearly smelt and it appeared that the smoke was coming largely from local fires. I read of 3 fires nearby Kuala Selangor recently. It is clear that a significant amount of the haze in the Klang/K Selangor/Sg Buloh area (where the smoke could also be smelt on Sat morning) is from local sources. What is being done to contain these fires? Can someone living nearby the affected areas check and confirm if the authorities are trying to put these fires out?
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Klang’s haze comes from two places….
Johan Setia (between Jalan Kebun and Banting exits on the kesas highway)
Jalan Kebun Tambahan (from Jalan Kebun exit, drive about 2 km)
We the residents living in Kota Kemuning, Bukit Tinggi, Bandar Puteri Klang, Bandar Botanic, Berjaya Park are up in arms over what we can do, we have already liased with YB Elizabeth, all the fire fighters can do is put out the surface fires…. the underground fire is burning in the peat land.
Short of flooding the area(no water source to do that)to completely put out the fire, those twp places have been burning for almost three months…..
We have encountered this for almost ten years now….
The history of the land points to the previous state government selling the land to 1700 odd owners cheaply in view of rising land prices when the Halal Hub was declared… then found out the land is not suitable for development….
Illegal farmers with help of some local gangsters have been occupying the areas and open burning are conducted by them (in Johan Setia)
but in Jalan Kebun, the land belongs to (a palm oil processing company) but they claimed the burning wasn’t done by them…. but it has been burning since May…….
Anil, perhaps you might have a suggestion how we can solve this?
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