KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — The number of forest fires in the country has risen sharply as the country suffers through a prolonged drought that is likely to end only at the end of March.

Tuesday was a record, with 643 cases according to statistics on the Fire and Rescue Department’s website.

Perak, Kedah, and Johor had the highest number of forest fires as of yesterday.

Yusri Basri of the Fire and Rescue Department said the current dry spell contributed to the rising number of forest fires despite the department’s efforts.

“In the dry season, there is dry wood which can easily catch fire,” said the senior operation and management officer.

Yusri said that another possible reason for the increase in forest fires is open burning, which usually occurs on a small scale, by plantation workers across the country.

“When they want to clear the land for planting season, they cut off all the trees and burn it on a small scale but the dry air and wind make the fires bigger and uncontrollable,” he said.

“They have no intention to start a big fire. They want to clear the ground and the cheapest way is to burn.”

Azhar Ishak, from the Meteorological Department, said the drought is a very unusual phenomenon as there should be more rain around this time of the year.

But the Atmospheric Science and Cloud Seeding division director predicted that rain would come around April and early May “because of the transition period of the Northeast Monsoon, which normally occurs in June, July, and August.”

Azhar also said that there is no cloud seeding operation at the moment as their aircraft is being used for search and rescue efforts of the missing flight MH370.

Cloud seeding will start again when conditions are suitable, he said.

“But if the clouds are not available, we will move to other places where we can find suitable clouds for seeding,” he added.

He added that the department is focusing on Selangor water catchment areas as the water levels there are at a critical stage already.

But the long dry spell is posing a challenge for the department.

“Now people say hot and dry, no clouds suitable,” Azhar said.

With the dry season and rising number of forest fires, the haze has also reached a hazardous level in Selangor at Port Klang and Banting, according to Air Pollutant Index (API) readings.