Borneo Is Burning — Living on the Frontline of Asia's Toxic Haze

In Indonesian Borneo, a thick, rust-colored smog has covered cities, roads, and homes for months. Wildfires have burned nearly 1.9 million hectares of land — an area about the size of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The smoke is making hundreds of thousands of people sick, and families are struggling to survive while waiting for rain to put the fires out.

Dianyra Eka Nastiti is a mother of three who lives in Palangkaraya, the city at the heart of the disaster. Every night, she listens to her baby's chest make a rattling sound and worries about the next day. Her baby was already hospitalized for a serious lung infection at just six weeks old. 'Those thoughts haunt me every night,' Nastiti says.

The fires have burned forests, swamps, and peatlands, sending tiny particles and poisonous gases into the air. These particles are so small that they can travel deep into a person's lungs and even enter the bloodstream. Once inside, they can cause long-term breathing problems and, in serious cases, early death. By mid-October, more than 277,000 people had been treated for coughs and breathing infections, and over 62,000 of them were children under five.

Natari Victoria, a 22-year-old from Palangkaraya, visited a health center after coughing for more than a week. She says babies and young cousins in her family are coughing too. 'The forest fires have had a huge impact, especially on everyone's health,' she says. Children, older adults, and pregnant women are the most at risk.

Riduan, head of the Palangkaraya Health Office, explains why the air is so dangerous. 'The sky has turned yellow and hazy,' he says. 'What are residents actually breathing? It's not fresh oxygen — it's carbon dioxide and pollutants.' When the brain doesn't get enough oxygen, the body starts to suffer in serious ways.

Officials have told people to stay indoors, but for many families that advice is impossible to follow. Nastiti still needs to buy food and school supplies for her children. 'It's simply not possible,' she says, 'and I feel like the people who say things like that have no idea what is actually happening here.' Still, when the haze is at its worst, she keeps her children inside.

About 50 kilometers north of Palangkaraya, in the village of Ramang, 37-year-old Lola Macitri has also been trapped indoors. The smog has shifted from dusty grey to amber yellow to burnt orange over recent weeks. Her children attend school online, while adults can only manage a few hours of outdoor work before the air becomes too dangerous. 'If you ask whether we are afraid of the health risks, of course we are,' she says. 'But where else can we go?'

Farmers, daily workers, and small vendors face a painful choice between their health and their income. The government says it has used water-dropping aircraft, weather experiments, and more than 60,000 ground workers to fight the fires. Dr. Nisa Novita, a forest and peatland researcher, compares the crisis to a sinking ship. 'We need to act urgently, use whatever tools can help, and prevent further damage while we still can,' she says.

Firefighter Juni has been battling the blazes for over 100 days with no end in sight. Even when surface flames appear to be out, the fires keep burning underground through deep layers of peat. The smoke has left him with shortness of breath, a lasting cough, and constant eye pain. When asked what he needs most, he simply says 'air.'

Firefighter Fauzi Rahman says peatland fires are especially hard to put out because they need massive amounts of water to be fully extinguished. 'On regular land we can clear 20 hectares in a single day,' he says. 'On peatland, it can take months.' A powerful El Niño weather pattern has made the drought worse and water very scarce. Until heavy rains finally arrive, millions of people across Southeast Asia can do little but wait and hope.