Wildfires across Kalimantan, the Indonesian side of Borneo, have burned tens of thousands of acres and sent thick smoke into Malaysia, with Singapore also on alert. In West Kalimantan, about 5,000 people a week have visited emergency rooms with respiratory symptoms since July, compared with 500 a week during the first half of the year, according to health ministry data.
The fires have affected daily life as smoke reduces visibility, some classes are suspended and residents continue to work and attend school despite unhealthy air. Authorities say a “super” El Niño may be intensifying the blazes, which could worsen while the dry season continues into October.
Smoke reaches neighbouring countries
The haze has become a regional issue as smoke from forest and peatland fires drifts across borders. Malaysia and Brunei have agreed to raise the matter at Asean, while almost 600 schools in Malaysia’s Sarawak state, also on Borneo, closed because of hot and dry conditions.
Kuala Lumpur was ranked the world’s most polluted city on Tuesday by air-quality monitoring company IQAir, followed by Jakarta. Singapore has gone on alert as the haze spreads.
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Fires and health impacts continue
Residents in Kalimantan describe severely restricted visibility and breathing conditions. Suwadi, who lives in Indonesian Borneo, said he could barely see five metres ahead outside his home and compared each breath with smoking a cigarette. He said a fire had broken out near the factory where he works, with flames approaching homes and residents panicking.
Some parents are urging schools to move classes online, while concern has grown about the exposure of babies, older people and pregnant women. Forestry ministry data shows that nearly 94,000 hectares, or about 232,000 acres, burned across Indonesia in July alone.
Authorities target suspected land clearing
President Prabowo Subianto ordered authorities on Monday to revoke the business permits of corporations suspected of directing land clearing, according to state news agency Antara. Indonesian police have arrested 72 people suspected of starting fires in Borneo and Sumatra; most are accused of deliberately burning land to prepare areas for plantations.
Annual fires in Kalimantan are often linked to slash-and-burn land clearing for plantations producing palm oil, of which Indonesia is the world’s largest producer. Fires have also been reported in Sumatra, West Papua and Lombok, where a blaze destroyed the traditional Sade village over the weekend.
Dry conditions could prolong the crisis
Authorities expect the current super El Niño to peak in September. Experts warn that the worst may not have arrived because the dry season is expected to last into October, while rain capable of extinguishing the fires is considered unlikely before November.
Peatlands can resist fire when their water tables remain high, but drainage networks built to clear land for pulp and oil-palm plantations have reduced that natural protection. Justin Sentian, a climate-change professor at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, said degraded peat fires can burn deep underground and produce thick smoke, making them harder to control. He argued that prevention requires stopping peatland conversion and restoring damaged areas, rather than acting only after hotspots appear.
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