Gavin Butler
Reporting from Singapore

Image source, Reuters

As we have reported, there are fears the fires in Indonesia could activate millennia-old "carbon bombs", as burning peatlands threaten to release huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Peatlands are waterlogged ecosystems which accumulate large amounts of semi-decomposed vegetation. They have a high carbon content, and can support forest and vegetation growth.

But if they become dry, as we have seen in these recent fires, they can also become highly flammable.

The area that's burning in Indonesia is a major peatland. It is considered globally important due to the amount of carbon that it stores and could potentially release - either as carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, or carbon monoxide, a toxic gas to humans.

Susan Page, a professor of geology and environment at the University of Leicester, told the BBC that as soon as peatlands are drained, "we convert long-term carbon sinks into a short-term carbon source".

"That means that they then start to emit carbon into the atmosphere, carbon that maybe was accumulating thousands of years ago."

A 17-year-old boy named Rudiyanash has gone viral for wearing a Superman costume while volunteer firefighting in Indonesia.

He started battling blazes after school with his father, who is the head of a local volunteer group.

His suit has drawn attention to the wildfire crisis near his home in Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, exacerbated by the super El Niño.

Ahmad Dhani
Reporting from Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan

When I first came to the fire front this morning the air was thick. I saw someone on a motorcycle disappearing into the haze.

Smoke continued to pour out of the ground and trees. I saw the fire team find the burned carcass of a python.

The smoke was a lot. I tried to use an extra mask and layer of tissue, but still felt it penetrating my nose and throat. It didn't take long for my tissues and mask to get wet with sweat, so I just took it off.

The fire team continued to water the smoky soil, because the roots below were still burning and difficult to extinguish. They had to continue to water the soil "until it becomes like porridge", they said.

Image source, Ahmad Dhani for BBC

After watering, one team took turns with the other, then went out in search of fresher air where they could rest.

The sound of helicopters flying low overhead was so loud – dozens of times, back and forth, from the water source to douse the fire.

Indonesia's foresty minister, Raja Juli Antoni, has told reporters that the battle to put out the wildfires is entering a critical phase, as the strongest El Niño in recent memory peaks.

"Our problems are not over. September is the peak ​of El Niño," he said earlier this week.

"September is the main fight for us," he added.

As we reported earlier, experts have warned that El Niño could exacerbate the wildfires with the potential to torch up to 11 million hectares of land.

Read more about the "Godzilla" El Niño here.

Liza Tambunan
Jakarta Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The fires add to the list of crises President Prabowo Subianto is facing since taking office in late 2024.

Last month, Prabowo warned corporations against violating a law that bans the burning of forests, saying he would take strict action against violators and revoke their permits. On social media, Indonesians are calling for stronger action.

In recent months, Prabowo has been criticised for mass poisonings that have plagued his multibillion-dollar free meals programme for students that was designed to tackle stunting. There are also concerns about the country’s economy

A poll in July, by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC), showed that Prabowo’s approval rating dropped to 51.1% from 81.2% in November 2025 and 66.4% in late February and early March.

A spokesperson for SMRC had said that Indonesia’s economic growth metrics – though accurate – do not translate into a sense of personal well-being, backing claims previously made by several economists.

The spokesperson noted that Prabowo’s standing had also taking a hit due to public discontent with the country’s political situation and the state of law enforcement.

The haze engulfing parts of Kalimantan and Sumatra will prove to be yet another challenge to the president’s standing.

Raja Eben Lumbanrau
BBC Indonesia

Wildfires are not uncommon in Indonesia, this year however, the "Godzilla" El Niño will likely exacerbate the calamity.

Last year, without El Niño forest fires torched a 359,000-hectare area, says Professor Bambang Hero Saharjo, a forest fire forensics expert from Institut Pertanian Bogor University.

This year, El Niño could burn an area as big as 10 million to 11 million hectares, Prof Bambang says, citing research reports. That is at par with the devastation of one of the country's worst wildfire seasons, which happened from 1997 to 1998.

Based on the forecast of Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency or BMKG, this year's dry season will run from July to September.

BMKG also predicts that El Niño phenomenon will persist until early 2027.

Tessa Wong
Asia Digital Reporter, in Singapore

Singapore's meterological authorities have warned that the southern part of South East Asia will likely see dry conditions in the next few days,with a "continued risk of severe transboundary haze".

"The hotspot and smoke haze situation is expected to stay elevated in fire-prone regions experiencing prolonged dry conditions", said the National Environment Agency (NEA) in an update posted this morning.

But the haze is likely to be "subdued" in the northern regions of South East Asia, as well as the central parts of Borneo and the northern parts of Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia's Sumatra island. These areas will see wet weather in the coming days, according to the NEA.

Quinawaty Pasaribu
Reporting from Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan

Image source, BBC/Andra Anhar

I have spent half a day in Kalimantan now.

In Landasan Ulin Utara the wildfire response remained in full swing. Water-bombing helicopters repeatedly flew overhead, dropping water on peatland fires that continue to smolder underground.

At one point, I thought a new fire had broken out, but firefighters told me the smoke was coming from a peatland hotspot rather than active flames.

Parts of the protected forest have burned since early August, and crews are working daily to cool the peat soil and prevent the fires from reigniting.

The air quality had improved to the "moderate" category. Unlike the heavy haze I encountered earlier in the day, there was no visible smoke hanging over the city center and I could no longer smell wildfire smoke, except near active hotspots.

Around the city, I noticed very few people wearing masks. A handful of volunteers were still handing out free masks to passing motorists, but daily life appeared to be continuing as normal. I also spent most of the day without my mask, only putting it on when I came across pockets of thicker smoke.

Gavin Butler
Reporting from Singapore

Image source, Ahmad Dhani for BBC

What makes Indonesian Borneo's wildfires particularly worrying is that they are burning through one of the world’s largest tropical peatland ecosystems.

Under normal conditions, these peatlands serve as gigantic carbon reservoirs. But under abnormal conditions, such as those currently hitting the region, they can become carbon "bombs".

"Peatlands are incredibly effective carbon stores because their waterlogged conditions slow decomposition, allowing carbon to accumulate underground for thousands of years," explains Dr Nisa Novita, a peatland researcher at Indonesian conservation NGO Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara.

"But this also means they can become a ‘carbon bomb’ when they are drained or burned, because that carbon can be rapidly released into the atmosphere."

Indonesia's tropical peatlands are among the world’s most effective natural carbon stores. As Dr Nisa points out: “the deeper the peat, the greater the carbon stock – and in Kalimantan, we have found peat deposits that can exceed 20 meters in depth.”

A peatland that deep has been known to harbour more than 6,000 tonnes of carbon – roughly equivalent to the annual CO₂ emissions of 4,800 cars – per hectare. Scientists fear that, once the peatlands go up in flames, that ancient carbon could be dumped into the atmosphere very quickly.

Quinawaty Pasaribu
Reporting from Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan

Image source, BBC Andra/Anhar

Kasman, a 69-year-old tropical fruit farmer, has spent nearly a decade cultivating a four-hectare orchard in Landasan Ulin Utara, South Kalimantan.

Today, he can only stare at what remains: a scorched landscape where rambutan, papaya, citrus, longan, avocado, petai and coconut trees once grew.

The fire broke out on the afternoon of 17 August. Kasman said he was tending to livestock when his child ran to him crying and shouting that a fire had erupted behind their home. By the time he returned, the flames had already spread.

"The fire was already huge," he recalled. Within days, the blaze had consumed all four hectares of his orchard.

Kasman estimates the losses at hundreds of millions of rupiah, or at least $5,000. Yet standing among the charred remains of his farm, he expressed more resignation than anger.

"Of course I'm disappointed, but what can I do?" he said. "We just have to start over and work again."

More than two weeks after the fire began, smoke was still rising from parts of the land. While the flames had largely subsided, the damage was already done.

Asked whether he felt angry about losing the orchard he had spent years building, Kasman paused before answering: "Who am I supposed to be angry at? This is the situation we're in."

Many of the fires in Indonesia have been located in Kalimantan on Borneo island, but we're seeing some active fires in Sumatra and Java as well. Here's a map of the latest fires in the last 24 hours.

A thick, toxic smog is enveloping some of Indonesia's biggest islands and spreading to neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, as weeks-long fires continue to burn.

If you're just joining us, here's what you need to know:

• The haze has forced the closure of schools in Banjarbaru, one of Indonesia's worst-hit cities, where a teaching assistant tells the BBC conditions became so bad “you couldn't even see your own feet” through the smoke
• A young mother in Banjarbaru tells the BBC her three-year-old daughter has developed "a cough, a sore throat and a runny nose" as the haze entered their house
• Indonesia’s Health Ministry has recorded over 50,000 cases of respiratory infections between July and August that were linked to land and forest fires, and thousands have been admitted to hospital
• Many of the fires are in Indonesia's part of Borneo, a huge island shared with Malaysia and Brunei. In Sarawak, Malaysia's side of the Island, the Air Pollution Index (IPI) in several areas has been "unhealthy"
• In the Philippine province of Palawan, north of the Indonesian wildfires and south of Manila, residents reported a "burnt smell" amid an intensifying haze that's causing headaches and irritation to eyes and throats
• Singapore is also nervously eyeing the level of air pollution, with government and retailers stockpiling N95 masks, and schools making plans to minimise outdoor activities

Stay with us as we bring you more updates from the disaster front, as well as the various affected areas across the region.

Image source, Jennifer Kang

Earlier this week the BBC's Asia Specific podcast spoke to a Malaysian woman visiting Kuching in Malaysia's Sarawak state.

Sarawak borders Indonesia's Kalimantan where many of the fires are located.

Jennifer Kang said the haze was so bad as her plane descended on the runway on Sunday afternoon: "We could not see anything below us".

What struck Kang was how little seems to have changed since three decades ago, when she was working in Kuching.

She recalled the 1997 haze crisis which "just went on for a long time where we felt like we couldn't see the sky. It was really awful. The economy slowed down, tourism stopped, flights were cancelled. It was really disruptive.

"Thirty years later, we know a lot more. We know what causes the fires. We know how to prevent it better. But yet here we are today with really bad air quality [still]. This is not normal.

"The bigger question is not how we cope with the current haze situation, but what more can we do to prevent it."

We now bring you images from Palembang in South Sumatra, on an Indonesian island east of Kalimantan.

From the air, Pelambang's massive Ampera Bridge and a light rail transit station nearly disappear behind the thick haze.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Faisal Irfani
BBC Indonesia

Indonesia's forest and peatland fires are not a new phenomenon. Experts say the crisis is rooted in decades of land-use change, dating back to the Suharto era, when vast areas of rainforest and peatland in Kalimantan were opened for logging, plantations and large-scale development projects.

Today, large-scale fires are often associated with the expansion of industrial plantations and other commercial land use. Environmental groups, researchers, and government investigations have repeatedly alleged that some companies use fire as a cheap and effective way to clear vast areas of land.

Researchers argue that while drought and El Niño conditions help fires spread, the severity of the haze is also linked to human activity. Drained peatlands, industrial timber estates and oil palm plantations can leave landscapes more vulnerable to burning, with fires often recurring in the same areas.

Unlike traditional uma bukit practices, which are small-scale, community-managed, and closely monitored, fires linked to large-scale land development can be far more difficult to control and can cause environmental and public health impacts on a much larger scale.

Faisal Irfani
BBC Indonesia

Image source, Getty Images

For centuries, communities across Kalimantan have used small, controlled fires to clear land for farming. They cut vegetation, burn it carefully, and used the ash as a natural fertilizer to improve soil fertility.

Among the Dayak Kanayatn people of West Kalimantan, the practice is known as uma bukit, or hill farming. According to community representative Tono, it is not simply an agricultural activity but a tradition passed down through generations.

Plots are typically small, usually less than two hectares, and farmers must follow customary rituals before clearing land. Tono says the practice is rooted in maintaining balance with nature and giving thanks to ancestors.

After several years of cultivation, farmers move to another area and allow the previous plot to recover naturally.

Indigenous communities have often rejected accusations that their traditional farming methods are responsible for large-scale forest fires. Tono said Dayak communities are frequently used as scapegoats despite carrying out land clearing with extensive planning and caution.

Research on major wildfire episodes in 1982 and 1997 found that authorities often focused blame on small farmers and Indigenous communities rather than industrial actors operating in Kalimantan.

Liza Tambunan
Jakarta Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The most devastating forest and land fires in Indonesia in recent years occurred in 2015, the last time the country faced a "super El Niño".

According to the government, 2.6 million hectares of land across Indonesia burned between June and October that year - equivalent to four and a half times the size of Bali.

Twenty-four people died because of the fires, which spread across forest and carbon-rich peatlands, exposing millions to toxic smog.

The wildfires also created a haze crisis in South East Asia, engulfing neighbouring countries in thick smog that lasted months.

Widespread fires also occurred during subsequent El Niño years, including in 2019 and 2023, though not to the extent of 2015.

Fires in the Ketapang area of Indonesia's West Kalimantan province have blackened the ground of a palm oil plantation.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Quinawaty Pasaribu
Reporting from Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan

Misbah, a 23-year-old mother from Pengayuan village in Banjarbaru, lives near a wildfire site and has a three-year-old daughter who attends a kindergarten located just about 20 steps from burned land.

She said classes were suspended for 10 days and moved online because of the haze.

"By around 7 a.m. the smoke got even thicker. Visibility was only about two meters," she said.

Misbah said her daughter developed "a cough, a sore throat and a runny nose" during the haze, while smoke also seeped into their home despite efforts to seal openings.

"The haze got into our house. Many families sealed gaps in their homes to try to keep the smoke out."

Misbah said wildfires occur in the area every dry season and have become a recurring reality for local residents, but she described this year's fires as the worst she has experienced.

"I just hope the government can find a solution to the forest fires."

Joel Guinto
Live editor

Image source, Getty Images

Filipino meteorologists say the haze is being blown north from Indonesia to the Philippines by the "habagat".

That's the Filipino term for the monsoon, which at this time of the year is moving from the south-west of the equator.

The habagat is the same weather system that has brought torrential rain to large swathes of the Philippines for much of August, causing widespread flooding that has disrupted the lives of millions.

For Filipinos waist-deep in seasonal floods, the haze is an additional misery.

Parts of Metro Manila, Luzon and the Visayas have been affected by the haze.