La Paz:
Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Thursday that Bolivia was not properly equipped to handle the wildfires that have been spreading around the Andean country.
Morales said the country lacks the equipment to fight fires, which had originally been started by farmers who burn forests and grasslands in summer to renew and expand their agricultural lands.
The Forest Authority and Land Survey reported that up until Tuesday there were 25-thousand heat sources from fires of various sizes burning in an area of about 1.5 (m) million hectares, mostly in the east.
Television pictures showed fires burning across huge swathes of fields and residents attempting to tackle blazes with buckets of water and braches of brush.
Smoke from the fires has drifted as far as the highlands of La Paz, forcing the delay or suspension of flights in four of nine departments with visibility severely reduced.
Morales said he instructed his Cabinet to move forward on negotiations for the purchase of helicopters and on the managing of aid.
He was concerned about the affect that smoke was having on the environment.