South-East Asia chokes on smog from Indonesia's wildfires

For three exhausting months, Andri Susanto and his Manggala Agni firefighting crew have battled fires on Borneo. He says the 2026 season feels worse than the notorious 2015 fires, which caused a smoke haze and air pollution crisis across parts of South-East Asia.

“Conditions in 2026 are indeed worse than in 2015,” Susanto said. El Niño has hit Indonesia hard, he said, drying up water sources. He has lost count of the days without rain, saying there have been more than 60.

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Conditions in 2026 are indeed worse than in 2015.

The crew recently spent hours containing a fire outside Ketapang in West Kalimantan. But the peatlands where many of the fires burn make the work especially difficult. These wetlands contain thick layers of decaying plants. Flames may disappear from the surface while embers continue burning several meters below ground.

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If we don't extinguish it completely until the smoke is gone, it will spread again. It spreads underground, so it's not visible.

“If we don't extinguish it completely until the smoke is gone, it will spread again. It spreads underground, so it's not visible,” Susanto said. Some exhausted firefighters must remain overnight to watch the site in case hidden embers flare up again.

Fires have burned for months across Indonesia's Kalimantan provinces, with what the article calls a super El Niño worsening drought and fire conditions across the region. Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni warned that the next few weeks would likely be the toughest for crews, as forecasts put the peak of dry conditions in September. “The field of struggle is right here in September,” he said.

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The field of struggle is right here in September.

At least 200,000 hectares have burned across Indonesia, an area nearly three times the size of Singapore. The figure does not include August, and the season has not ended, although the total remains below the area burned in 2015. In Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan, thick toxic haze has nearly hidden the city from the air. Visibility has fallen below one kilometer. Resident Fatmawati, waiting at a clean-water distribution point, said the smoke was so strong that it was dark around her. “We've never experienced anything like this,” she said.

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We've never experienced anything like this.