"The hotspots were detected in three sub-districts in South Barito," Krisnadi, the head of the South Barito forest and plantation office, stated here on Monday.
Some 216.25 hectares of forest area were ravaged by wildfires raging from August to October 2014.
In September 2014, 20 hotspots were detected in South Barito. Buntok town was shrouded by haze due to the wild fires, he remarked.
In the meantime, thick haze blanketing Syamsudin Noor Airport in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan Province, has led to at least five flights being delayed on Tuesday.
"Five flights were delayed for about 30 minutes to an hour from their scheduled departure time," Airport Service Section Head of PT Angkasa Pura I port operator Heru Widiantmo reported in Banjarmasin on Tuesday.
Of the five delayed flights, two belonged to Lion Air that departed for Yogyakarta and Surabaya and three flights from state-owned Garuda Indonesia. The Garuda flights left for Balikpapan (East Kalimantan), Surabaya (East Java), and Jakarta.
On Monday, thick haze began engulfing Banjarbaru and Banjarmasin, thereby triggering respiratory problems among the residents in the two South Kalimantan cities.
Dark smoke filled nearly all the streets in the two cities after the conditions remained normal for almost two weeks.
"At 6 a.m. local time, the air is fresh, but 30 minutes later, thick smoke blew across the city," Wita, a mother from northern Banjarbaru, remarked.
The visibility was limited, and the odor was so strong that the passersby and motorists had to wear masks, Wita noted.
The smoke originated from several bush fires not far from the city.
A fairly large fire gutted tens of hectares of open bush land in that area.
The rapidly spreading fire completely destroyed a public health center in Liang Anggang.
(f001/INE)
EDITED BY INE.
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
