Indonesia hopes to extinguish all forest fires within 1 month, says its environment minister

Indonesia aims to extinguish within a month all forest and land fires that have caused haze to cover much of Southeast Asia, its environment minister has said.

Within a month

According to Indonesian news agency Antara, Indonesia's Minister of Environment Jumhur Hidayat said that the intensity of fires has started to decline.

"Based on discussions with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, it should take a few weeks (to extinguish the fires). But since intensity is already starting to decline, hopefully it will be less (than a month)," Jumhur said on Tuesday (Oct. 13).

However, obstacles continue to hamper firefighting efforts, including limited water supplies and operational challenges for water-bombing aircraft.

The minister was speaking to the press after a forum in Jakarta.

He also said that the Indonesian government is initiating the removal of a law that allows households to clear up to two hectares of land by burning.

Aid offers have to be assessed for effectiveness

Regarding offers of assistance from other countries, the minister said that the government would assess potential aid based on its type and effectiveness in accelerating firefighting operations, Antara wrote.

Small deployments may have a limited impact, since Indonesia has already deployed large numbers of responders.

Indonesia president Prabowo Subianto recently announced stepped-up measures to combat the fires.

Over 60,000 personnel have been deployed to support ground operations.

The spokesman for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency had suggested that aircraft may have limited effectiveness due to low visibility.

Both Malaysia and Singapore have expressed their readiness to assist with tackling the fires in Indonesia.

Malaysia said it was ready to provide 55 firefighting personnel, three helicopters, and a plane to battle the blaze.

However, it said it has yet to hear back from Indonesia on the offer.