Six orangutans, including two nursing infants, were rescued from wildfires raging on Borneo in the past week, Indonesian authorities and rescuers said on Thursday.This brings the total number of orangutans rescued in a month to 15.The apes were saved from plantations in rural West Kalimantan province, where they had become trapped after fires cut off access to their forest habitat, according to Indonesia's forestry ministry and the wildlife rehabilitation foundation YIARI.A large fire was burning just 200m from where the group of critically endangered primates was found, the two organisations said in a joint statement, according to AFP news agency."This situation left the orangutans without a safe route back to their habitat; they could only move from one plantation to another," the statement said."In addition to facing the threat of flames and smoke, the orangutans' movement among plantations also has the potential to increase interactions and conflict with human communities."Four orangutans were rescued on 4 September with the help of local residents and plantation workers, followed by a mother-infant pair on 8 September. Rescuers anaesthetised the animals to minimise stress and the risk of injury before transporting all six to YIARI's rehabilitation centre in the town of Ketapang.File image: Orangutans are found only on Borneo and Sumatra (Alamy/PA)Orangutans are found only on Borneo and Sumatra, two of the areas hit hardest by this year's wildfires, which have destroyed vast areas of land and sent haze as far as Malaysia and Singapore.The Indonesian government has said more than 202,000 hectares of land burned nationwide between January and July, though figures for August have yet to be released.The Nusantara Atlas project has put the total closer to 300,000 hectares, and on Thursday gave an estimate of 895,657 hectares including August. The European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said last week that the haze emitted by the fires was the worst for any month of August in 24 years.Indonesia's dry season typically runs from July to October, and this year has been worsened by a strong episode of the El Niño weather pattern. Wildfire smoke contains high levels of PM2.5 particles, fine enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and even the bloodstream, with potentially serious health consequences. According to Greenpeace estimates based on government data, around 35 million people in Indonesia have been exposed to the toxic haze.Around 43,000 firefighters have been deployed to tackle the blazes, Berton Panjaitan, a spokesperson for the national disaster mitigation agency, told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday. He said a Japanese navy ship had arrived in West Kalimantan carrying three helicopters to assist water-bombing efforts.