JAKARTA - At least 1,736 separate fire hotspots have been detected in Kalimantan island and South Sumatra province of Indonesia over the past week, officials said.

In Kalimantan, where 1,370 hotspots have been found, haze from the forest fires has begun to disrupt flights at Syamsuddin Noor Airport in Banjar Baru city in South Kalimantan, the Jakarta Post daily Friday quoted head of the South Kalimantan Environmental Impact Management Agency Rahmadi Kurdi as saying.

"The disruptions mostly happen in the morning but it clears up at noon. But it has disrupted flight," Rahmadi Kurdi said Thursday.

Blaming the fires on farmers burning land to clear it for planting, he said the situation is exacerbated by a prolonged drought in the area.

"Since there has been no rain in the past month, the fires are hard to control. We are continuing to fight the fires ... and some of the hotspots have started to die down," Rahmadi said.

From Sept. 1 to Oct. 3, a total of 5,108, hotspots have been recorded across Kalimantan. Meanwhile, the official in charge of forest fires at the South Sumatra Forestry Office, Ahmad Taufik, predicted that the situation would worsen in the coming days with no rain expected in the area.

The office has brought in two helicopters from the Forestry Ministry and two from the National Police to help deal with the fires.

"Most of the hotspots are on private land and were intentionally set at night, making it hard for us to monitor due to limited equipment and personnel," he said.

Forest fires have in the past several years in Indonesia caused a loss of billions of U.S. dollars.