Indonesia confirms Sumatra’s forest fire toward Malaysia
Indonesia confirms Sumatra’s forest firetoward Malaysia
4August 2005
publishedby ChinaView
JAKARTA, Aug. 4 (Xinhuanet) — Indonesia confirmed Thursday that forest firein Sumatra island, which started Sunday, has blanketedpart of neighboringMalaysia.
Arbaini, head of Environmental Conservation of the Regional EnvironmentalImpact Management Agency of Riau Province, said Thursday that the wind hadcarried haze resulted from hot spots inRiau and North Sumatra provinces towardMalaysia.
“From our monitor on the satellite picture, the fire starting from July31 was sometimes up and sometimes down,” she told Xinhuaby telephone.
However, she said that the fire had not yet caused serious impact on theprovinces, adding, “We do not know the situation in Malaysia because thewind blows toward there, from southeast to east.”
Arbaini attributed the fire cause to a seasonality of the dry season thatlasts longer than previous ones.
To prevent further spread of the fire, Arbaini said that the authoritiesalready have deployed teams to the scene of fire, and local companies also madeefforts to stop the fire.
The haze slightly covered North Sumatra provincial airport but did not hamperthe flight schedule, according to an official of the airport.
Forest fires frequently break out in Sumatra in dry season because of thespread of illegal land-clearing fires or carelesslydiscarded cigarettes. Enditem.
