国际英语新闻:Indonesia launches biggest operation ever to fight forest fire

JAKARTA, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government has launched the biggest operation ever to combat forest fires on peat land in the country that have triggered haze spreading to neighboring ASEAN nations, an official said here on Friday.

As many as 32 helicopters and planes and more than 22 soldiers and police have been deployed to the hotspots in Sumatra and Borneo islands, spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

"This is the biggest haze emergency operation ever conducted by Indonesia,"Sutopo told Xinhua via phone.

The air operation involved 21 helicopters, 7 lived water bombing plane and 4 planes for creating artificial rains, he said.

Six of the aircraft are from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia which are for water bombing and guiding the planes for that purpose, Sutopo said.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has previously asked help from foreign countries to ease the blaze in peat land which he said is difficult to stop as it is not a common fire.

On Friday, a satellite observation recorded 769 hotspots in Sumatra Island and 159 others in Borneo Island, according to him.

"It is not easy to douse hot massive spots in large areas especially on dry peat land as the fire is also occurring below the land. Besides there are fresh fires so that the number of hotspots rises," he said.

Indonesia, home to the world's largest palm oil industry, has endured forest fires as people burn land during land clearing for new plantation.

The country has been haunted by forest fires since the 1990s.