John Aglionby, Jakarta – Forest and brush fires have flared up again in Indonesia and are threatening a bigger crisis than last year, when more than 2 million hectares were burnt and choking smog spread from Australia to Thailand.

According to an expert, global climate conditions and the sequence of events - fires followed by a short wet season and then more fires - are similar to 1982-83, when 3 million hectares of primary and secondary forest were lost in Kalimantan, at a cost of $A7.5 billion.

This time the fires were starting much earlier and were more widespread, he added.

Satellite data shows that hundreds of hotspots have appeared in East Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, and more than 200 on Sumatra since the end of December, when the monsoon season ended prematurely.

The official Antara news agency said many of the hot spots were in the Bukit Soeharto forest reserve in East Kalimantan province. Motorists had complained of poor visibility on roads near the reserve, it said. "A vast area of yellowish bush in the forest park has begun to smoulder again, while trees are withering in the prolonged dry season."

The Indonesian Government, struggling with a currency crisis, was told of the new fires a week ago by Western analysts, but has done nothing to put them out or publicise them.

The Environment Minister said he was checking the accuracy of the reports. The authorities in East Kalimantan have issued a danger warning and an oil company had to evacuate 50 people from a rig surrounded by blazing brush.

Smoke has not yet returned to Sumatra but it is feared that it soon will, since the huge peat swamps in South Sumatra which produced much of last year's noxious smog are starting to burn again.