Saturday 12 July 2008

Ministry warns of forest fires

Ministry warns of forest fires

Sat, 07/12/2008

JAKARTA: With the dry season arriving, the Forestry Ministry has urged regional offices to step up measures to prevent forest fires.

Satellite monitoring from July 1 to 8 detected 98 fire hot spots in South Sumatra, 81 in Jambi, 43 in West Sumatra and 25 in West Kalimantan.
"Ground checks and efforts to keep the fires under control have been conducted to prevent the incidents from worsening or causing smoldering haze," a spokesman for the ministry, Masyhud, said Friday.

The ministry asked its offices in the regions to increase routine patrols and activate fire monitoring posts.

Regional offices are also asked to provide regular updates to the ministry on fire control activities. -- JP