JAKARTA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government has deployed almost 10,000 disaster agency personnel and 37 planes to extinguish forest fires in the country, a disaster official said on Sunday.
Agus Wibowo, a spokesman of the national disaster management agency, said there are many satellite-detected hotspots in West Kalimantan province.
The spokesman said the personnel and the planes will engage in fighting flames in six prioritized provinces located in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has emphasized a priority to apply an integrated patrol for early detection and management of peatland ecosystem, especially during the dry season to detect potential of forest fires from happening.
Forest fires frequently occur in Indonesia as growers use fires to clear pieces of land to open new plantations for growing palm and pulp plantation. But the fires often get out of control, especially in dry season, resulting in haze that spread to neighboring countries.
