Jakarta, Aug. 22 -- Indonesia is deploying 1,500 additional military personnel and six helicopters to fight forest and land fires in West Kalimantan, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said here Saturday.

"Several mitigation measures have been prepared, including three Indonesian military (TNI) battalions, comprising about 1,500 personnel, from outside Kalimantan," Wijaya said.

The troops will be deployed through Sunday morning to help extinguish remaining hotspots across the province.

The government is also sending six heavy-lift helicopters to conduct water-bombing operations and strengthen aerial firefighting efforts.

Authorities will also intensify cloud-seeding operations, timing weather modification efforts with rain forecasts...