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Indonesian Province Shuts Schools Due to Forest Fire Haze

Associated Press

   JAKARTA, INDONESIA - Authorities shut most schools in parts of
   Indonesia's Sumatra island to protect children from a thick, noxious
   haze as deliberately set fires burned through peatland forests,
   officials said Wednesday.

   Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency said more than 3,600 fires have
   been detected on Sumatra and Borneo islands by weather satellites,
   leading to very poor air quality in six provinces with a combined
   population of more than 23 million.

   Nearly every year, Indonesian forest fires spread health-damaging haze
   across the country and into neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.

   Authorities have deployed more than 9,000 people to fight the fires,
   which have razed more than 162,000 hectares (400,000 acres) of land in
   the provinces of Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central
   Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.

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