KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): The Department of Environment (DOE) will step up activities to prevent open burning and enforcement action against factories and motor vehicles to combat air pollution during the current hot and dry spell. DOE director-general Norlin Jaafar said with the current weather, the potential of open burning occurring in hotspot areas, including at peat lands and landfills, are very high. "Based on records of complaints and department patrols, 418 open burning cases were detected this month (till yesterday) and the number is expected to rise if the dry and hot weather persists till mid-September,” she said in a statement here on Friday (July 23), adding that such cases were usually caused by subsistence farming by locals.