Indonesia, Aug. 1 -- Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Djamari Chaniago emphasised ground task force operations are key in controlling forest and land fires, as every hotspot must be put out immediately before it spreads.

"All task forces must step up ground operations and not rely on aerial firefighting as the primary effort to control the fires," Chaniago said while inspecting fire control efforts in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, on Saturday.

He noted hot weather causes fires to spread rapidly, making the speed of personnel on the ground a critical factor in preventing fires from expanding to larger areas.

"No matter how small the fire is, ground patrols must extinguish it immediately. Once a fire g...