Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto designated the country’s worst wildfires in 11 years as a top national priority this week, deploying 70,000 forest monitoring personnel to tackle blazes across six provinces.
Ground Crews Battle Borneo and Sumatra Blazes Without Aerial Support
Dry conditions fueled by an El Niño cycle have driven persistent fires across Borneo and Sumatra since August. Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency officials reported to President Prabowo Subianto that thick smoke has completely halted water-bombing and cloud-seeding initiatives in Central Kalimantan. Ground firefighting units remain the only active line of defense as authorities wait for seasonal rainfall to clear the visibility barrier.
Official estimates from the Indonesian government peg the burned area between January and July at 202,000 hectares. Meanwhile, environmental organization Auriga calculates that the devastation reached 637,000 hectares by August, a footprint exceeding nine times the total land area of Singapore. According to European Union Copernicus Climate Service data, emissions generated by these fires accounted for nearly half of global wildfire carbon output over a recent seven-day stretch.
The human toll is mounting rapidly inside Indonesia. Ministry of Health figures show that respiratory infections linked to the smoke reached 277,000여건 across seven provinces by mid-October, surging past the 113,000여건 cases recorded a month prior. The crisis marks the most destructive fire season since 2015, when blazes scorched 2.6 million hectares nationwide.
Transnational Haze Disrupts Schools and Strains Regional Diplomacy
The toxic smoke has crossed maritime borders, severely degrading air quality in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore. Major urban centers, including Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore, ranked among the ten most polluted cities globally on Swiss air quality tracker IQAir indexes.
![[AP/뉴시스] 인니 비영리 보존단체 YIARI 제공 사진으로 서식지를 잃은 오랑우탄이 9일 보르네오 서칼리마탄 바투 니암부 보호림에 방사되고 있다](https://img1.newsis.com/2026/10/13/NISI20261013_0001660816_web.jpg "Photo: 뉴시스")
In Malaysia, the crisis forced widespread school closures. The southern state of Johor ordered 1,198 educational institutions serving over 617,000 students to stay shut through mid-October, Asia Today reported. Malaysian education guidelines now mandate closures if the Air Pollutant Index exceeds 180 or lingers above 150 for three consecutive days. The sudden shift to remote learning exposed severe digital divides, with regional associations reporting that over 70 percent of primary school students missed online classes due to a lack of devices and working parents.
Diplomatic friction has accompanied the environmental fallout. However, Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Dadan Abdurrahman confirmed that Jakarta has not accepted formal foreign aid or declared a national emergency, maintaining that domestic agencies can manage the crisis.
Wildlife Displacement Deepens Ecological Damage
Beyond human settlements, the fires have decimated critical habitats on Borneo, triggering emergency wildlife rescue operations. These animals fled burning timberlands in Ketapang and North Kayong after food sources vanished and smoke trapped them near human settlements.
Veterinarians treated the rescued apes for severe malnutrition and dehydration before releasing them into unburned forest corridors. Forestry ministry records indicate that approximately 270 wild animals have been rescued across Borneo during the current fire wave, including 46 individual orangutans handled by YIARI. Conservation groups warn that rising temperatures and illegal land-clearing practices continue to narrow the safe zones available for displaced wildlife.
| Metric | 2015 Crisis | 2019 Crisis | 2026 Current Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Burned Area | 2.6 million hectares | Nearly 1 million hectares | 637,000 hectares (Jan-Aug estimate) |
| Primary Drivers | El Niño & peatland draining | El Niño & agricultural clearing | El Niño, dry conditions, & land clearing |
| Regional Impact | Severe regional haze | Severe regional haze | Haze, school closures, 277k+ illnesses |
ASEAN chair the Philippines announced that member state foreign ministers will convene ahead of next month’s summit to negotiate coordinated regional solutions to the persistent transboundary haze.
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