Indonesia firefighters battle forest fires on Sumatra island

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http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailgeneral.asp?fileid=20070718160809 & irec=1

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Indonesia firefighters battle forest fires on Sumatra island*

 

JAMBI, Indonesia (AP): Firefighters battled forest fires on Indonesia's

Sumatra island that sent thick clouds of smoke across the region, a local

official said Wednesday.

 

At least 37 hotspots were reported across the island Wednesday and dozens of

firefighters have been deployed, said Donny Osmon, the head of the local

firefighting agency.

 

Haze from forest fires, illegally set by farmers every year to clear land

for plantations, has become a major problem for large parts of Southeast

Asia over the last 10 years and is a source of tension with Malaysia and

Singapore where air quality levels are drastically worsened because of the

blazes.

 

Osmon said farmers began setting the fires on Sunday to clear dry brush and

peat land, and that police are investigating the blazes.

 

Indonesia has the third-most forest cover of any tropical country, but

between 2000 and 2005 lost around 1.8 million hectares (4.5 million acres)

of forest due to logging, agriculture and forest fires, according to the

environmental group Greenpeace.

Fires on the Indonesian half of Borneo island forced flight cancellation

over the weekend. (**

 

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