Fires burn in protected forests

JAKARTA: Spot fires have been detected in several protected forests in Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, Lampung, Central Kalimantan and East Kalimantan, an official said here on Thursday.

Soedarmadi, an assistant to the coordinating minister for people's welfare, said the fires were detected by the State Ministry of the Environment early this month.

The fires are believed to be burning in coal deposits in the forests, Antara reported.

The fires were contained by the heavy rains over the past few weeks. However, June is usually the start of the dry season, so preventive measures have to be taken, Soedarmadi said after a coordination meeting on public welfare.

Several ministers attended the meeting, which was presided over by Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication Haryono Suyono.

Soedarmadi said that in a bid to prevent the fires from growing, the government would cooperate with non-governmental organizations and plantation and logging companies.