The haze which resulted from the smoke emitted from the continuous burning of about 10-hectare area of wood-based dumping ground located about 13 Kilometres away at the Kemena Wood-based Industrial Zone near here, was really hurting the people.

In connection with the problem the MP's People Service Centre here received several complaints about cases of people having respiratory problems, such as asthma as a result of the negative effect of the pollutants they were breathing in.

The service centre here also received similar complaints from the pulic in nearby Sebauh district.

Wasting no time upon his arrival from Kuala Lumpur on March 16, Dato' Sri Tiong immediately rushed to the scene where he was briefed of the situation by the Bintulu Fire Brigade and Rescue Department (FRDS) chief Encik Sabbaruddin.

Dato' Sri Tiong personally led the operation the same afternoon and remained there until midnight. However, despite the tremendous effort in their attempt to combat the fire which lasted for two days, the operation failed, prompting them to retreat back.

On March 19, the same team comprising of personnel from the Bintulu Fire Station, representatives from nearby factories and more than 30 volunteers from SNAP branch in Bintulu took part in the second operation. This time, in order to be able to do the job more effectively they changed their strategy by constructing access road to the burning zone.

Using several heavy equipments and machineries, more than ten water tankers the exhausted volunteers finally managed to  put out the fire after another three days of hard work. 

Two of the excavators and more than ten water tankers used in the operation were sponsored Mr. Thomas Ng, the Chairman of SNAP Youth Section, Kidurong.

According to reliable sources, this was the third time such incidents happened in the same area.

Earlier on Dato' Sri Tiong also visited another site where a similar incident had been going on since the Chinese New Year. The fire which involved two factories were also put out about the same time.

In an interview with the Borneo Post Dato' Sri Tiong said that, no doubt the wood-based industries did provide a lot of employment opportunities to the local people and as well as spurring the economic activities for the state. 

However, he sternly warned the factory operators not to use bad business as an excuse for not being able to dispose off the unwanted wood-based materials from their factories properly.

Tiong proposed that the factory operators should one day sit down with the relevant authorities to discuss and find out ways and means on how best the waste from their factories could be disposed off,adding that standard incenerators might be the answer to the problems. "I will bring the matter to the relevant ministries so that appropriate actions could be taken" Tiong added.

In light of the situation, the DAP members led by its Bintulu Branch Chairman, Mr. Ling Nen Sing, also visited the site on March 15. 

Talking to the Borneo Post Ling also urged the government to take immediate and long term measures to solve the problem so that similar incident would not recur in the future...END.