REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has deployed four water bombing helicopters to put out land and forest fires in West Kalimantan. On Monday, Pontianak city administration has closed school activities until August 26 due to thick haze that covered the area.

The Aqua and Terra satellites have detected 483 hotspots in the area, of which 178 are high category hotspots.

"In addition to the four water bombing helicopters, we also worked closely with the BPPT (Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology) to make artificial rain to overcome forest fire in West Kalimantan," a BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement here on Tuesday.

Currently, he said, a joint task force has continued to extinguish the fire. "We have land task force of the Indonesian Military, the police, regional disaster management agency (BPBD), Manggala Agni and volunteers to contain the fire."

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