REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SAMPIT - The visibility in Kotawaringin Timur district, Central Kalimantan, has reduced to just 30 meters as a result of thick haze engulfing the area on Tuesday morning.

"I had to slow down while driving my motorcycle this morning due to the thick haze," Ayu, a local student, said.

Most of the local people are wearing face masks to avoid inhaling the haze. Several people have also started using helmet visors as the thick haze can trigger eye irritation. The haze in Sampit also raises the possibility of road accidents since the drivers cannot see clearly.

"I have to use the horn whenever I pass the crossroads to warn the drivers from the opposite direction," stated Diah, a local resident.

Earlier, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB)'s Acting Secretary Dody Ruswandi remarked that the agency was streamlining its efforts to handle forest fires in South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, and Riau in Indonesia.

"Right now, our focus is on handling the forest fires in those three provinces, which are having the highest number of hotspots," Ruswandi emphasized.

According to him, the officials from BNPB and the related agencies had tried to douse the forest fires through land and air operations.

In the meantime, BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho reported that nine helicopters and a Hercules airplane belonging to the Air Force have been deployed to put out the forest fires. The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) will also carry out cloud seeding operations until October to help in extinguishing the forest fires.

"We are optimizing our efforts to extinguish the fires and prevent them from spreading to other areas," Nugroho revealed.

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