JAKARTA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian firefighters have extinguished fires on just over 500 hectares of a 983-hectare target across six priority provinces, leaving 481 hectares still burning, the national disaster agency BNPB said Wednesday.
Central Kalimantan accounted for more than 321 hectares of remaining fires, followed by South Sumatra with over 84 hectares, said Berton Panjaitan, acting head of the agency's disaster data, information, and communication center.
Outside the six priority provinces, fires covered more than 1,044 hectares, of which only 44 hectares had been extinguished, leaving around 1,000 hectares still burning.
Nearly 72,000 ground personnel have been deployed in the priority provinces, while the number of water-bombing and patrol helicopters has increased to 51, Berton said.
The seasonal fires, often linked to land clearing and worsened by dry conditions, have blanketed parts of Indonesia and neighboring countries in haze. ■