KOTA BARU: The Kelantan Fire and Rescue Department has advised the public to refrain from carrying out open burning especially in flammable areas during the current hot and dry weather.
Its director Zainal Madasin said open burning would reduce the level of air quality, affecting health.
He said fire tends to spread faster in hot and dry weather and would be difficult to control and extinguish.
“Haze could also occur if open burning is not controlled. Therefore, we would like to remind the public to stop open burning in dry weather conditions.
“According to statistics, Kelantan recorded a total of 280 open burning cases from January to March this year, an increase from the 135 cases recorded throughout last year,” he said, according to Bernama.
Two areas recorded unhealthy air quality readings yesterday – Segamat in Johor and Tanah Merah in Kelantan, according to the Environment Department (DOE).
DOE director-general Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaffar said the Air Pollutant Index (API) recorded in Segamat was 139 while Tanah Merah was at 109 as of 2pm yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Meteorological Department has placed Jeli on a Level 2 heatwave alert.
