Fire fighters have been battling forest fires in Sumatra, to try and prevent deadly 'haze'.

Forest and peatland fires in Riau Province are said to have burned 3,818 hectares of peatland, blanketing the region in smoke, or 'haze'.

The fires are typically caused by attempts to clear land for farming, sometimes for palm oil plantations. But with the land below often comprised of peat, which burns, they can rage out of control for months.

Local authorities have distributed face masks to residents, while fire fighters have stepped up efforts to combat the fires.

In late 2015, the haze, made worse by months of unusually dry weather, blanketed much of southeast Asia for months, causing many fatalities.

Since then, Indonesia has stepped up efforts to prevent and contain forest fires.

Forest and land fires that have occurred in Riau province, Indonesia, since the last month has burned 3,818 hectares of peatland.
As a result, the smog generated from forest and land fires has an impact on the community.
Since the last three days, the town of pekanbaru has been enveloped in smog and the scent of smoke has stung.
Forest and land fires that occur at this time are in the campar, siak, pelalawan and bengkalis districts.
The joint task force team, manggala agni, tni, polri, the community concerned about fire struggled to quell forest and land fires.
Forest and land fires are difficult to extinguish because of lack of water supply factors, factors that are very hot weather and strong winds that cause fast fire to spread to other arela and cause widespread forest fires.
To reduce the impact of the haze, the Riau provincial health office distributed thousands of free masks to road users who were carrying out their activities.
The fog that covered the city of Pekanbaru had an impact on ARI, coughing, and sore eyes. For this reason, the Riau provincial government urges its citizens to use masks when doing activities outside their homes.