Aussies help RI fight fires

Aussies help RI fight fires

JAKARTA: A team of six Australian fire fighting experts will
arrive over the weekend to advise Indonesia in its battle against
forest fires, the Australian Embassy says in a statement.

The team, along with Phil Koperberg, Commissioner of the New
South Wales Bush Fire Service, met with Australian Minister for
Development Cooperation Gordon Bilney in Canberra, the statement
said on Thursday.

"Large forest fires have been causing problems in Indonesia's
Kalimantan province for sometime," Bilney was quoted as saying.

He said thousands of hectares of tropical rain forests had
been destroyed and the resulting smoke is a problem for
neighboring countries.

Bilney said team members will also suggest measures to
strengthen Indonesia's national and local fire fighting
capability.

The team members are Tony Howe, Michael Watts, Stuart Midgley,
Bruce Holz, Tarini Casinader and Stuart Hoverman.(bas)