Indonesia’s wildfire season has surged past previous records with over 154,000 fire hotspots detected across the archipelago, sending toxic haze across Southeast Asia and prompting an unprecedented ASEAN emergency alert as air quality in Malaysia reached dangerous levels.
The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre triggered a Level 3 transboundary haze alert on August 26 as smoke from Indonesian fires blanketed parts of Borneo and Sumatra. Kuching, the capital of Malaysia’s Sarawak state, was ranked the most polluted major city in the world by Swiss air quality monitoring company IQAir, with the air pollution index exceeding 200, a level classified as very unhealthy.
Indonesia’s national disaster management agency, the BNPB, reported that fires have burned through 48,889 hectares across six priority provinces as of August 9, with West Kalimantan province accounting for more than half at 28,680 hectares. Independent monitoring by Madani Berkelanjutan, an Indonesian environmental NGO, put the West Kalimantan figure even higher at over 50,000 hectares burned.
Hotspot Count Surpasses 2019 Crisis Levels
FireWatch, a satellite monitoring platform developed by forest monitoring group Nusantara Atlas, detected more than 96,000 fire hotspots across Indonesia by late July, already surpassing the roughly 88,000 recorded at the same point during the devastating 2019 fire season that blanketed the region in hazardous smog for months. By August 11, the count had surged to over 154,000, a 60 percent increase in just two weeks.
The acceleration reflects the intensifying El Nino weather pattern, which officially arrived in June and has brought prolonged dry conditions across the Indonesian archipelago. The BNPB warned that August and September would carry the highest fire risk, with peatland areas in Sumatra and Borneo particularly vulnerable to deep-burning blazes that are extremely difficult to extinguish and produce thick, acrid smoke that can travel hundreds of kilometers.
Of the six priority provinces, West Kalimantan was the worst affected, followed by Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra. All six contain vast areas of carbon-rich peatland that ignite easily during dry periods and burn underground for weeks, sending columns of toxic smoke high into the atmosphere.
Schools Close Across Sarawak and Kalimantan
In Malaysia, the haze forced six schools in Sarawak’s Tebedu district near the Indonesian border to shift to online classes after the air pollution index exceeded 200 on August 12. Eleven areas across Sarawak recorded unhealthy API readings on August 11, up from eight just two days earlier. The worsening conditions prompted Malaysia’s Department of Environment to issue health advisories urging residents to limit outdoor activities.
Inside Indonesia, authorities in Pontianak, the provincial capital of West Kalimantan, suspended schools indefinitely and shifted to online learning as haze blanketed the city. Cases of acute respiratory infections rose sharply in affected areas. The Singaporean government said its haze task force was ready to deploy action plans if air quality in the city-state deteriorated further.
President Surveys Fires as Budget Cuts Draw Criticism
President Prabowo Subianto personally surveyed fire-affected areas in late August, visiting South Sumatra and Kalimantan provinces. His administration pledged to revoke permits from companies found responsible for starting the fires, though environmental groups criticized the government for reducing firefighting budgets amid the escalating crisis.
In Sumatra’s Riau province, one of Indonesia’s worst fire and haze hotspots, the 2026 budget for fire management stood at just 67 billion rupiah, roughly 205,000 US dollars. The group FITRA Riau described the allocation as inadequate for a province that has historically been at the center of Indonesia’s annual fire crisis. Madani Berkelanjutan found that the area burned increased eightfold from 15,474 hectares in June to 124,040 hectares in July alone.
Wildlife Habitats and Biodiversity Under Threat
The fires in West Kalimantan have threatened critical wildlife habitats, including areas near the Young Animal Rescue Foundation’s orangutan rehabilitation center in Ketapang district. A fire broke out on July 22 just one kilometer from the center, forcing emergency evacuations of animals. On Java, Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park was also closed due to a separate blaze.
Indonesia’s history of transboundary haze crises has repeatedly strained relations with Malaysia and Singapore. The 2015 fire season, the worst on record, was estimated to have caused over 100,000 premature deaths across Southeast Asia and economic losses exceeding 16 billion dollars. Environmental groups warned that funding cuts and weak enforcement could push the 2026 season toward similar catastrophic outcomes as the dry months continue.
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