By OLIVIA MIWIL - December 15, 2017 @ 8:30am

SANDAKAN: The Sabah Forestry Department had taken several initiatives to prevent damage caused by forest fires.

Its director Datuk Sam Mannan said fire had been a serious threat to the forests.

“Based on our records, among the worst fires in Sabah was in 1982 and 1983 which involved a million hectare of forests; 190,000 hectares in 1997 and 1998; and 19,000 hectares last year.

“These incidents were caused by prolonged drought due to the El-Nino phenomena,” he said, adding that fires last year had cost the department RM98 million.

Sam was speaking during a recent launch of a Forest Fire Management Plan course here.

He added that the department recently received an allocation of RM7.76 million under the 11th Malaysia Plan to tackle forest fires.

Among the activities to deal with fires include the building of fire breaks, acquisition of fire extinguishers and holding training and awareness campaigns.

“On controlling forest and peat fires, the department has also formed a Peat Fire Action Team.

“The team consists of agencies such as the Department of Environment, Beaufort and Kuala Penyu district offices, Fire and Rescue Department, state Minerals and Geoscience Department, and the Meteorological Department.”

He added that to increase the efficiency of preventing and
controlling forest fires, the
department had, last year, applied for a delegation of powers from the Department of Environment to enforce a ban on open burning on government and private land.

“This is important as the source of forest fires is usually open burning or land clearing activities.

“The law amendment in delegating the power is still under discussion,” he added.

Sam said by July 1 next year, all licensees had to undergo forest management courses.

“The training has to be conducted based on real-life situations.”