Perlis Fire Cases Record Significant Spike In January 2026

KANGAR, Feb 5 (Bernama) -- The Perlis Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) recorded 183 cases of fire in January this year, which is more than three times the 57 fire cases during the same period last year.

Its director, Senior Fire Officer 1 Wan Mohd Hamizi Wan Mohd Zin said the significant increase was partly due to open burning in the current hot and dry weather, which caused the fire to spread easily.

"The prevalent dry weather makes grassy areas, scrublands (belukar), and wastelands highly flammable, and fires can spread quickly, especially if there is uncontrolled open burning.

“Of the total number of fires recorded last month, 137 cases involved bush and grass fires, while the remaining cases were structural fires, including house and business premises fires, as well as other minor fires,” he said at a press conference after the annual parade for this year's Perlis JBPM at the state JBPM headquarters here today..

"Small fires involve incidents such as fires at electrical poles and small-scale public facilities," he said.

In relation to this, he advised the public to be more responsible and to refrain from open burning during this hot weather period as this could threaten the safety of residents and harm the environment.

"The Perlis JBPM will continue to intensify monitoring and enforcement actions in high-risk areas to curb the increase in open burning throughout the dry season," he said.

Meanwhile, Wan Mohd Hamizi said the average response time for the Perlis JBPM for January this year was 9.36 minutes, which is a slightly better record compared to the 9.46 minutes recorded for the period from January to December last year.

"The Perlis JBPM handled 400 fire cases throughout last year, in addition to 308 rescue operations and three special tasks," he added.

-- BERNAMA