International Fire News

[budthespud]

American, Tom Robinson, of Global
Emergency Response, was personally
present and did fly on missions
in Greece on the IL-76 waterbomber
where all other nations' aircraft
(5) were wind-grounded.

The aircraft was called a miracle
and the aircraft that saved Greece
in the local media.

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July 31st

Firefighters put out blaze near seaside resort west of Athens
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Firefighters put out a blaze Sunday in a
pine forest near a seaside resort west of Athens, authorities said.
Eight water-dropping planes, six helicopters and 60 fire trucks
were used to battle the fire, which broke out at Ayioi Theodori, 64
kilometers (40 miles) west of the capital.
Fire department officials said three neighborhoods on the
outskirts of the popular resort were evacuated, but no houses were
damaged and no injuries were reported.
It was not immediately clear how much of the forest had been
affected.
Last week, fires ravaged forests across Greece as temperatures
hovered at 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Greece's Civil
Protection Authority had issued weekend fire warnings for most of
southern Greece, including areas around Athens.
On Thursday, a fire burnt 60 homes and large swathes of pine
forest in the eastern Athens suburb of Rafina.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

August 3rd

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia struggled Thursday to
contain fires in central Sumatra that have shrouded large parts of
neighboring Malaysia in thick white haze.
Forest fires and blazes set by local farmers were burning out of
control in four provinces, said Firman, a Meteorological and
Geophysics Agency official, identifying more than 150 hotspots.
The sky was dark in parts of central Sumatra, but strong winds
have for the last three days carried much of the smoke across the
Malacca Straits and into Malaysia, he said.
"We are very sorry about this," said Firman, who goes by only
one name, adding that government workers have been focusing most of
their attention on hardest hit Riau province.
The other blazes were in the provinces of North Sumatra, Jambi
and Kalimantan.
Forests have been razed in several districts of Kalimantan, said
Zainul Arifin, a local forestry affairs official. He said many of
the fires were lit by farmers to clear land.
Forest fires often break out in the region during dry spells
because of illegal land-clearing fires or carelessly discarded
cigarettes.
Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia and Indonesia
experienced theirs worst air quality levels in 1997, when brush
fires in Indonesia destroyed some 10 million hectares (25 million
acres) of vegetation, cloaking much of Southeast Asia with haze.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Portugal and Spain August 4th

LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Strong winds and sweltering temperatures
fueled some 20 wildfires across drought-stricken Portugal on
Thursday as the number of firefighters on duty nearly doubled
compared to the previous day, authorities said.
The day began with 10 major blazes and the number doubled by
mid-afternoon as temperatures soared above 40 C (104 F). Nearly
1,600 firefighters tackled the blazes, patrolled high-risk areas or
cleaned up scorched areas, the Civil Protection Service said.
They were supported by 457 vehicles and nearly two dozen planes
and helicopters dropping water. On Wednesday, about 900
firefighters were on duty.
Flames engulfed about a dozen rural houses, including several
holiday homes, officials said.
Most fires were in heavily wooded areas of northern Portugal. A
smoky haze from the fires covered Porto, the country's
second-largest city, television images showed.
Temperatures in some regions were forecast to reach 45 C (113
F), the weather service said.
The Fire Prevention Agency placed most of Portugal on maximum
alert as the country endures its worst drought on record. The heat
wave is expected to continue through Saturday.
Fires have charred more than 68,000 hectares (168,000 acres) of
parched woodland this year, more than half of it last month,
according to the General-Directorate for Forests.
In neighboring Spain on Thursday firefighters battled to
extinguish a forest blaze a few kilometers (miles) from the
northern city of Pamplona.
The regional government of Navarra said three helicopters and
five planes were brought in to tackle the fire on the Monte San
Cristobal, north of the city.
Seven elderly residents were evacuated as a precaution from the
small village of Garrues, but authorities said it was no longer at
risk by early evening. There was no word on the cause of the fire.
Spain is experiencing its driest summer since record-keeping
began in the 1940s and has seen a spate of forest fires.
Last month, a blaze apparently sparked by a barbecue fire killed
11 firefighters and destroyed more than 11,000 hectares (27,000
acres) of woodland in a nature reserve east of Madrid.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[budthespud]

New fires ravage France's Var region

PARIS, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Fires scorched bone-dry parts of France, with flames moving across the Var region Friday.


Fire fighters were stymied in their efforts to battle the flames by a World War II-era powder magazine.

The latest fire, which broke out Thursday afternoon, appeared to be under control by the evening. But high winds Friday morning fanned it back, and the fire burned some 500 acres.

Complicating the battle is the grounding of Canadair planes used to fight the fire. The aircraft's used was halted after a Monday Canadair crash that killed two pilots.

Officials have evacuated some 1,700 people from a camp site in the Var region out of precaution.

Fires have also ravaged areas of the Bouches-du-Rhones and Auron, in southern France.

France and other parts of western Europe have been hit by unusually hot and dry conditions this summer.

[budthespud]

Forest fires continue to rage in Russia's Far East region

www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-07 17:45:43


MOSCOW, Aug. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- About 116,000 hectares of forest have already been destroyed as 33 forest fires are raging in Russia's Far East region, said the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Amurskaya obl. and Khabarovsk, where 15 fires are within 10 km to people's living areas, have been the worst hit by the fires.

In addition, the blazes have also charred 77,000 hectares of non-forest land in the region. Up till now, the area of woodland ravaged by fires in the Far East region is five times larger than that in the corresponding period of last year.

More than 300 firefighters as well as 14 planes and helicoptershave so far been mobilized to tackle the fires, said officials of Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Wildfires break out in Russian's Far East region each year but fires of this year are particularly damaging to the eco-system. Experts pointed out that the primitive taiga having been destroyedthis year would need at least 500 years to recover completely. Enditem

[budthespud]

9:01 am: Two dead in Spanish forest fire as country suffers hottest weather this year



By ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 7, 2005

MADRID, Spain - Two firefighters died as at least 10 forest fires swept across tinder dry landscapes amid soaring summer temperatures across Spain, officials said Sunday.

The pilot of a small firefighting plane died when his aircraft crashed into trees Saturday as he attempted to spray water on the flames and a land-based fireman was later crushed by falling rocks as he worked to help control a blaze, police said.

Many of the fires may have been started intentionally, leading Agriculture Minister, Elena Espinosa, to call for "greater responsibility," without elaborating.

"Many of our forests now face a difficult road to recovery," Espinosa told reporters.

Spain is in the grip of its worst drought in over 60 years with many rivers, lakes and reservoirs at less than 20 percent of their capacity.

Temperatures reached 42 Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit), the hottest this year, in several southern regions on Saturday and were likely to stay there for at least one more day the national weather center said.

Some fear Spain see a repeat of the high summer temperatures seen in 2003, when 19,000 people died across Europe.

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Spain-LODDs

Two dead in Spanish forest fire as country suffers hottest weather
this year
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Two firefighters died as at least 10 forest
fires swept across tinder dry landscapes amid soaring summer
temperatures across Spain, officials said Sunday.
The pilot of a small firefighting plane died when his aircraft
crashed into trees Saturday as he attempted to spray water on the
flames and a land-based fireman was later crushed by falling rocks
as he worked to help control a blaze, police said.
Many of the fires may have been started intentionally, leading
Agriculture Minister, Elena Espinosa, to call for "greater
responsibility," without elaborating.
"Many of our forests now face a difficult road to recovery,"
Espinosa told reporters.
Spain is in the grip of its worst drought in over 60 years with
many rivers, lakes and reservoirs at less than 20 percent of their
capacity.
Temperatures reached 42 Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit), the hottest
this year, in several southern regions on Saturday and were likely
to stay there for at least one more day the national weather center
said.
Some fear Spain see a repeat of the high summer temperatures
seen in 2003, when 19,000 people died across Europe.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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France August 7th

HYERES, France (AP) - Hundreds of firefighters battled blazes in
two areas of southern France on Sunday that forced the evacuation
of campsites and temporarily cut electricity in 50,000 homes, fire
officials said.
Strong winds fueled the fires, which burned through forested
areas close to the towns of Hyeres, in the Var region of southern
France, and Manosque, further to the north in the foothills of the
Alps.
Authorities in the Var were forced to cut high-tension lines
that affected homes in Hyeres and two nearby towns, as some 300
firefighters battled blazes that had burned through 50 hectares
(125 acres) of forest, fire officials said.
Three campsites of vacationers were evacuated near the town of
Manosque in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region, regional official
Mohamed Saadallah told LCI television.
The blazes came as French firefighters brought into use a new
type of water-dropping plane - the Dash-8 - after suspending use of
Canadair planes following the death of two firefighters in Corsica
last week.
Concern about seasonal summer fires in southern France has been
heightened this year because of a severe drought affecting much of
southern Europe. Wildfires have burned more than 68,000 hectares
(168,000 acres) of woodland this year in Portugal.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[budthespud]

Two people die as 'deliberate' forest fires ravage Spain



8 August 2005

MADRID – Two people have died in the struggle to put out forest fires which are ravaging parts of Spain.

Francisco Javier Tirado Rodriguez, 29, died on Saturday helping to fight a blaze started that day in Casavieja in Ávila. Rodriguez, who is well-known in his home town for his work protecting the environment, was hit by rocks which became loose during the fire.

On Monday, officials said the fire had destroyed an estimated 800 hectares of forest and was believed to have been started deliberately.

On Sunday, in Galicia, in Orense, Antonio Diaz, 50, died as he piloted a plane spraying water over an area engulfed in flames.

On Monday, more than 27 fires were stillburning throughout the country, many started during the weekend which experts had warned would be especially hot and dry.

Fire fighters in the province Castilla y Leon were tackling 11 fires which had destroyed some 4,100 hectares, with the most serious being highlighted as that at Avila and a second in La Cabrera in Leon, which had destroyed 3,100 hectares.

The farming and fishing minister Elena Espinosa, who visited the family of Rodriguez to give her condolences, called for people to behave responsibly. She pointed out that the vast majority of the forest fires this summer have been started deliberately and stressed "the majority of the burnt woods will be difficult to restore".

For her part, the environment minister Cristina Narbora admitted that the government needed to do more to tackle forest fires.

"The government isn't satisfied with how it has acted," she said. "However, it isn't resigned; it's committed."

There were "many faults to be addressed," she added. However, the minister said the conservatives were wrong to accuse the socialist government of "letting people die" and "little short of involuntary homicide".

"There hasn't been a single year in history when there has been so little rain," she said, adding that those circumstances made exceptional measures necessary. The minister said she would consider vetting local festivals which used fireworks and bonfires, in addition to the ban the government has already introduced on smoking and lighting bonfires in certain zones.

Narbora said she still felt bitterness, anxiety and powerlessness when she thought of the 11 volunteer firefighters who lost their lives in the Guadalajara fire last month.

She pointed out that during the conservative PP government's eight years in power, more than a million hectares were destroyed in forest fires and 32 people died.

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August 9th

Spanish firefighters continue battle against wildfire in south
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Firefighters battled a three-day-old
wildfire Wednesday in a national park in southern Spain, helped by
water-dropping aircraft and firebreaks.
Authorities estimate that the fire in the Sierra de Cazorla area
of Jaen province - along with two others in the same region that
have been brought under control - has burned some 4,000 hectares
(9,900 acres) of woodland.
Thirty-eight firefighting aircraft were working to smother the
fire, the state-run news agency Efe reported.
Firebreaks set up Tuesday on three sides of the blaze were
helping halt the flames. Some 1,000 people have been evacuated from
the area as a precaution.
The fire, believed to have been sparked by lightning, started
late Sunday.
Spain is experiencing its driest summer since record-keeping
began in the 1940s, and has seen more than 50,000 hectares (123,550
acres) of woodland ruined by about 5,000 forest fires so far this
year.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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August 10th

By ANGELA DOLAND
Associated Press Writer
PARIS (AP) - They're the daredevils of Europe's skies: pilots
who swoop through blinding smoke, soaring flames and bone-jarring
turbulence to drop water onto summer wildfires that rip through
parched forests.
On Thursday, the pilots of France's fleet of Canadair
water-dumping planes will return to the skies after a 10-day
grounding at the height of fire season - restoring firefighters
with one of their most powerful weapons.
The planes were grounded Aug. 1 when two Canadair CL 415 pilots
plunged to their deaths on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.
Though the cause of the crash is still not clear, safety experts
have checked all 10 remaining planes in the fleet and pronounced
them fit to fly, the Interior Ministry said in a statement
Wednesday.
The temporary loss of the Canadairs put extra pressure on
firefighters on the ground. The Canadair fleet is the main airborne
firefighting force in France. Without them, firefighters were left
with just water-carrying helicopters and other planes that are best
suited to combatting small fires.
This weekend, French authorities brought in more than 1,000
firefighters and 250 vehicles from around the country to help
combat Mediterranean fires, said civil defense spokesman Lt. Col.
Eric Soupra.
Without the Canadairs to douse the flames, "fires are more
virulent, and you need to take all possible security measures,"
Soupra said in a telephone interview.
In southern Europe, forests are too small and too populated to
employ the North American technique of letting fires burn out
naturally. Despite the massive efforts, fires burn throughout the
summer here, sometimes spreading to homes, disrupting transport
links and forcing the evacuations of people from houses and camp
sites under threat.
The European Union's head office said Wednesday that this year
was on track for an increase in fires across Europe - comparable to
the disastrous 2003 season. Then, 40 people were killed and 740,000
hectares (1.8 million acres) - an area almost equivalent to Corsica
- of forests burned.
For firefighters, this summer has already been deadly.
In Spain, which is suffering through the driest summer since
record-keeping began in the 1940s, a blaze apparently sparked by a
barbecue fire killed 11 firefighters last month.
Also in Spain, the pilot of a small Polish-made Dromader M-18
water-carrying plane crashed into trees Saturday as he attempted to
douse a fire near the Portuguese border. His death, and the death
of the two French pilots, has drawn attention to the daring flyers
who risk their lives.
France's Canadair pilots are the creme de la creme of aviation:
Most are former fighter pilots, stunt flyers or members of the
French aircraft carrier fleet.
Ludovic Piasentin, one of the men killed in Corsica, was a
former fighter pilot who had racked up more than 10,000 flight
hours. His co-pilot, Jean-Louis de Benedict, was a longtime Air
Force flight engineer who got his pilot's wings in 1995.
Canadairs - squat, round-nosed planes that look something like a
flying boat - fill their 6,137-liter (1,595-gallon) tanks by
landing on lakes, oceans and rivers and scooping up water. Pilots
make trips back and forth between the water source and the fires,
dropping into heavy turbulence zones to douse the flames.
"It's extremely violent, it takes place at low altitude, there
is heavy turbulence and wind, the planes are put into complex
situations," said Dominique Pipat, a filmmaker who spent three
months preparing a documentary about the Canadair pilots.
"It's serious piloting - they're not flying from point A to
point B in a Boeing. ... They love the adrenaline. They're very
humble about what they do."
Piasentin and de Benedict were buried Friday. They were awarded
posthumous Legion of Honor awards. Interior Minister Nicolas
Sarkozy praised them as "the very definition of courage."

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Malaysia/Indonesia

Malaysia seeks crisis talks over choking haze
By Mark Bendeich
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Malaysia sought crisis
talks with its biggest neighbour on Thursday as Indonesian
forest fires smothered peninsular Malaysia in a choking haze,
threatening public health and raising fears for its economy.
Much of peninsular Malaysia, including the capital, has
been shrouded in thick smog for a week, presenting the country
with its worst pollution crisis since 1997, when smoke mainly
from Indonesian forest fires blocked out skies across Southeast
Asia.
Malaysia sent its environment and commodities ministers on
Thursday to the Sumatran city of Medan where, according to
Malaysian media, they were due to meet Indonesia's forestry
minister and officials from its environment ministry.
"I am going there to go on site and see what is happening,"
Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Peter Chin told
Reuters by phone on Thursday as he prepared to fly to Sumatra.
Fires on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, which is a short
ferry-ride away from peninsular Malaysia's west coast, flare up
around this time every year as farmers, plantation owners and
miners burn forests to clear land during the dry season.
Malaysia has offered to help Indonesia fight the fires, but
Chin declined to say what it could realistically do to help
solve the problem or what he hoped to achieve from the Medan
talks.
Malaysian companies own large tracts of oil-palm plantation
in Sumatra. Asked if some of these might also be to blame for
the fires, he added: "We will see what happens (during the
visit)." In Indonesia, Malaysian-owned operations are often
said to be behind the burning or to be turning a blind eye to
it.
TOURISTS SEEK REFUGE
Haze from Indonesia has become an almost annual problm in
Malaysia where it is often made worse by its own dry-season
fires, but this time the smog has reached dangerous levels,
according to health authorities.
Asthma attacks have soared and tourists are holing up in
their hotels or seeking refuge in air-conditioned shopping
malls at one of the busiest times for the country's tourism
industry.
Schools in worst-affected areas are closed for the rest of
the week and a major port operator on the west coast suspended
operations on Wednesday evening. An airport on the outskirts of
Kuala Lumpur was closed on Wednesday for five hours.
A ship was reported to have run aground this week, and
vessels plying the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's
busiest sea lanes, are warned to take care because of poor
visibility.
The government has said it will declare an emergency if the
pollution index hits 500, a level considered hazardous. Kuala
Lumpur registered 181 on Wednesday, with Putrajaya, the
administrative capital, at 224, and Port Klang at 410.
Malaysia is starting to publish daily pollution
measurements, reversing a 1997 decision to keep the figures
secret out of fears this would scare off tourism, a major
industry generating 29.65 billion ringgit ($7.92 billion) in
income last year.
The haze has hurt the local stock market, dragging down
shares in the airport, airlines and tourism industries.
($1 3.746 Malaysian Ringgit)
(Additional reporting by Jerry Norton in Jakarta)

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Europe

By CONSTANT BRAND
Associated Press Writer
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Drought and human negligence are to
blame for the recent rise in forest fires across Europe, the
European Union's head office said Wednesday, warning the situation
in southern Europe remained precarious.
Officials and experts said recent years have seen an increase in
forest fires in the Mediterranean region, especially in EU
countries Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and France.
It said while 2004 saw a dip in fires, this year was on track
for a dramatic increase across Europe, comparable to the disastrous
2003 forest fire season, which saw 740,000 hectares (1,828,540
acres) of forests burned to the ground and claimed the lives of 40
people.
"The situation in Portugal, Spain and also the south of France
is pretty critical," said Paulo Barbosa, from the EU's Institute
for Environment and Security. He said preliminary figures compiled
from EU member states up to the end of July, showed that 20 people
had died in some 70,000 forest fires.
He said "only 10 to 15 percent (of fires) are started by
natural causes," pointing to this summer's deadly blaze in Spain.
Eleven firefighters trying to extinguish a forest fire sparked
by a smoldering barbecue were killed last month in central Spain.
That fire destroyed more than 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) of
pine forest and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from
their villages in drought-stricken Spain.
Spanish firefighters on Wednesday were battling a three-day-old
wildfire in a national park in southern Spain, helped by
water-dropping aircraft and firebreaks.
Authorities estimate that the fire in the Sierra de Cazorla area
of Jaen province - along with two others in the same region that
have been brought under control - has burned some 4,000 hectares
(9,900 acres) of woodland there. Some 1,000 people have been
evacuated from the area as a precaution.
In Portugal, where authorities reported no wildfires for the
first time in 11 days as light rain and cooler temperatures settled
over large parts of the country.
Firefighters brought a three-day blaze in the Serra da Estrela
National Park under control after nightfall Tuesday, the Civil
Protection Service said. The fire was one of the worst in the
history of the park, which was established in central Portugal
almost 30 years ago.
A heat wave during Portugal's worst drought on record brought a
spate of summer forest blazes, which have killed two people,
injured dozens and forced the temporary evacuation of hundreds from
outlying villages.
Environmental groups blame the fires on weak environmental
education among rural communities and inadequate forest management
policies.
Police suspect many of the fires were set deliberately.
Detectives have arrested more than 80 people this year on suspicion
of starting wildfires.
Barbosa said EU risk assessments, which are given on a daily
basis to national forestry and civil protection services, showed
that during a normal season the highest risk-countries in the
Mediterranean area suffer some 60,000 fires per year, on average -
between May and October. "More than 400,000 hectares (988,400
acres) of forest burn in average every year," Barbosa said.
Preliminary figures for this season assembled by the EU's
so-called European Forest Fire Information System, EFFIS, show that
2005 will be a very bad year.
Barbosa said by early July, some 76,000 hectares (187,796 acres)
of forests were already damaged in Portugal, over 37,000 hectares
(91,427 acres) in Spain, 14,000 hectares (34,594 acres) in Italy
and 4,930 hectares (12,182 acres) in France.
In its annual forest fire report for 2004, the EU said some
129,600 hectares (320,242 acres) of forest land was burned in
Portugal, 127,900 hectares (316,041 acres) in Spain, 55,000
hectares (135,905 acres) in Italy, 10,500 hectares (25,946 acres)
in France, and 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) in Greece.
The EU's forest fire risk center assembles information from
satellite images, and also takes into account drought conditions
and weather forecasts.
France and other countries in the region have already imposed
strict restrictions on the use of water, and have also moved to
tighten rules on the use of camp fires, barbecues and engines in
risk areas.
---
On the Net: http://inforest.jrc.it/effis/

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[budthespud]

Malaysia Chokes on Indonesia Forest Fires
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MALAYSIA: August 11, 2005


KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia choked on its worst pollution crisis in eight years on Wednesday, as forest fires from neighbouring Indonesia smothered the capital in thick smoke, forcing schools, an airport and a port operator to shut down.


Asthma attacks soared and tourists huddled in air-conditioned shopping malls at one of the busiest times for the country's tourism industry, prompting the government to consider emergency measures and to offer its neighbour help in fighting the fires.

"The situation is not getting better, it is getting worse," Environment Minister Adenan Satem told a news conference.

Adenan said after a cabinet meeting that discussed ways to clear the haze that he and the commodities minister would travel to the Indonesian capital Jakarta as soon as possible to offer Malaysia's help in response to a plea Indonesia made to ASEAN nations.

The government would declare an emergency if the pollution index hit 500, a level considered hazardous, he said. Kuala Lumpur registered 181 on Wednesday, with Putrajaya, the administrative capital, at 224, and Port Klang at 410.

Malaysia is starting to publish daily pollution measurements, reversing a 1997 decision to keep the figures secret.

The API numbers have been kept secret in the past for fear of hurting the tourism industry. Former premier Mahathir Mohamad, whose administration kept the data secret, wore a face mask against the smog at a public function on Wednesday.

In the capital, wisps of smog swirled around the gleaming Petronas Towers, occasionally hiding the iconic structures from people in the streets below, many of whom wore masks or held up handkerchiefs to block out the worst of the acrid smoke.

"This is the worst thing in Malaysia," said a tourist from the United Arab Emirates accompanied by his wife and three daughters, who gave his name only as Ahmad. "We're concerned for our health...It's very bad."


SHIP RUNS AGROUND

Kuala Lumpur, swarming with big-spending Middle East tourists at this time of year, warned against traffic hazards after a ship ran aground at nearby Port Klang and prepared to declare an emergency in the worst-hit regions.

An airport close to the capital shut down for five hours and a major port operator on the west coast, Northport, suspended operations from 0900 GMT. Schools in two badly hit towns near Kuala Lumpur were ordered to close for the rest of the week.

The haze also crept into the stock market where shares in the country's main airports operator, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd , and in national carrier Malaysian Airline System Bhd fell 4.2 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

Air purifiers were "selling like hot cakes", said Azmi, a doctor. A long queue of people waited to buy air ionisers and purifiers in a swanky shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, he said.

Domestic media said the haze triggered a surge in respiratory diseases, almost doubling cases of asthma in some areas, and boosting breathing problems 60 percent elsewhere.

"If the API exceeds 400 we want schools to close," Health Minister Chua Soi Lek told reporters. "We want people to cut down on outdoor activities. They must wear masks when outdoors."

The US embassy ordered all employees working out-doors to wear masks. Motorists needed to switch on their headlights to be seen by other road users in the middle of the day.

The haze has cut visibility in parts of the Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest waterways, to about 1 km (0.6 miles), meteorological officials said.

(Additional reporting by Jalil Hamid and Mark Bendeich)