Kuala Baram air quality worsens due to wildfires!

PETALING JAYA: The air quality in Miri's Kuala Baram district has worsened to very unhealthy levels in just a day due to raging wildfires, making it the only area in the country with such poor readings.

This is the first time that very unhealthy readings have been recorded in the area and in the country since June. Miri town itself recorded low moderate air quality readings.

As of 11am today, the Air Pollutant Index for the Industrial Training Institute (ILP) in Miri stood at 236, which was 73 point-jump from the previous day from the API of 163 recorded at 11am on Sunday.

The API was 85 at 11am on Saturday.

The monitoring station is located near the fires which started on Friday.

A good API reading is from 0-50, moderate (51-100), unhealthy (101-200), very unhealthy (201-299) and hazardous from 300 and above.

The rest of the country enjoyed normal or low moderate air quality readings.

Speaking to reporters in Miri on Sunday, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah said fire rescue teams were working hard to put out the fires as soon as possible. The area, he said, was prone to fires,

Uggas warned that open burning was still prohibited and investigations were underway as to what caused the fires.

In June, the ILP Miri monitoring station was the only area in the country which recorded very unhealthy levels in the mid 200s, due to nearby fires.

The Star News