Fires keep burning into October
Indonesia's worst fire season in more than a decade is continuing into October, with peatland and agricultural fires sending thick smoke across Borneo, Sumatra and beyond. Satellite monitoring has recorded more than 23,000 fire hotspots in eight months, and the national weather agency BMKG says fire activity this year has already passed 2015 levels.
Health authorities have reported more than 170,000 respiratory cases linked to the haze. More than 12.5 million people across seven provinces have been exposed to polluted air, and the smoke has drifted into Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, where schools and outdoor events have been disrupted.
Why this year is so bad
A strong El Niño has brought a long drought to the region, drying out carbon-rich peat soils that burn underground and are hard to extinguish. Farmers clearing land with fire add to the problem. Indonesia has run repeated cloud-seeding operations, some with help from Japan's Self-Defense Forces, and has deployed thousands of personnel to fight the blazes.
Conservation groups have used the crisis to press a lawsuit against companies they accuse of failing to prevent fires on their concessions. Burning peat also releases large volumes of carbon dioxide and threatens habitats, including those of the critically endangered Bornean orangutan.
What comes next
Forecasters expect dry conditions to last into November, which means the haze could worsen before the monsoon arrives. Regional governments are reviving a 2002 agreement on transboundary haze that has no enforcement mechanism. Diplomats in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore have asked Jakarta for faster data on hotspots, while Indonesia says its priority is extinguishing fires and protecting the public.
For millions of people across the region, the practical question each morning is the same: whether the air is clean enough to send children to school. Doctors say masks help but are not a solution, and that repeated exposure over months carries risks that will show up long after the fires are out.