Gua Tempurung not affected by forest fire

He said the fire outbreak only involved a limestone area at Gunun Tempurung, which is about two kilometres from the tourist attraction.

"Therefore, tourists and locals are free and safe to visit or carry out an expedition at the cave area," he said after being briefed on the situation by the Fire and Rescue authority at the grounds of Gua Tempurung, here, Wednesday.

He was responding to media reports saying that the fire occurred at Gua Tempurung, resulting in many tourists cancelling or postponing their trip to the cave and causing public concern or fear.

"The flames have been put out and only smoke from the affected area can still be seen as there are still embers from the burnt tree trunks. However, we cannot take it easy as anything can happen during this hot, dry season.

"We pray that Perak will be showered with rain to lessen the problem of forest fires faced throughout the country now," he said.

Zambry advised the people to be careful as a small action or carelessness like throwing a glowing cigarette butt onto the ground could start a fire which then spread.

Meanwhile, he said Perak had so far not experienced a water supply shortage as the state had a lot of water resources while the dams were not drying up.

State Fire and Rescue Department director, Yahaya Madis said it had closed the control post at Gunung Tempurung but patrolling and monitoring continued as smoke was still detected at the fire outbreak site.

He said 60 to 70 calls on fires were received daily in February, with 978 open burning cases reported in the state.