Firefighters on Tuesday battled more than 170 raging ground and forest fires on the Indonesian part of Borneo island to prevent haze spreading to neighbouring countries, officials said.
More than 200 firefighters worked to contain forest fires and blazes set to clear land at 171 hotspots in four provinces on the island, said forestry ministry spokesman Masyud.
He said another 24 blazes were being fought in South Sumatra province on Sumatra island while about six affected Riau province. The fires are a major source of a haze causing annual havoc across several Southeast Asian countries.
"Our firefighters are concentrating work in all locations in all the provinces I have mentioned, including Sumatra, to prevent the haze from spilling over to our closest neighbors," he told AFP.
Masyud also said that satellite imaging showed 18 hotspots in the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo.
Officials have said this year that most fires appeared to have been started to clear land in commercial timber or palm oil plantations. The government has banned the practice of using fire to clear land but enforcement remains weak.
In 1997 and 1998 a choking haze caused mainly by Indonesian forest fires enveloped parts of Southeast Asia for months, losing the region an estimated nine billion dollars due to a disruption of air traffic and other business.
