Indonesia Fights Back Against Deadly Wildfires and Thick Haze

Indonesia is fighting a serious wildfire crisis that has left millions of people choking on thick, foul-smelling smoke. On August 28, officials announced that the government has ramped up efforts to stop the fires using cloud seeding and water-bombing aircraft. More than five million people on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra are breathing in dangerous haze from dozens of fires burning across the country. A powerful weather event called El Niño has made the fires much worse than usual.

Indonesia's deputy health minister, Dante Saksono Harbuwono, said that more than 13,500 people were treated for breathing problems in July and August alone. Some schools have been forced to close because the air outside is too dangerous for students. The haze has even drifted to nearby countries, making people in Singapore and Malaysia sick as well. Minister Dante warned that certain groups face the greatest danger, including children, the elderly, pregnant women with asthma, and people who work outdoors.

To help the most vulnerable, non-governmental organizations set up two shelters in Palangkaraya, the capital city of Central Kalimantan on Borneo island. These shelters are designed for babies and small children who are suffering from the haze. Each shelter can hold only five children at a time and is stocked with baby formula, oxygen tanks, medicines, and even a small playground. More shelters are being planned to help even more families in need.

One mother, Katharina Abi, 30, brought her one-year-old and five-year-old to a shelter on August 28 because thick smoke had filled her home. She described how the smoke gets much worse in the afternoon and evening, making it hard for her and her family to breathe. "My children often have coughs and colds, maybe because there is a lot of smoke," she told the news agency AFP. Her story reflects what millions of families across the region are going through every day.

The Indonesian government has been working hard to fight the fires from both the ground and the air. The national disaster agency, known as BNPB, reported that firefighting teams have poured more than four million litres of water onto burning areas in recent weeks. On just one day — August 26 — crews scattered more than 8,000 kilograms of salt into clouds to try to make it rain. These efforts helped produce light to moderate rains over parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan, giving some relief to fire-stricken areas.

Cloud seeding is one of the key tools being used to battle the blazes. It works by spraying substances like silver iodide or salt particles into clouds, which helps trigger rainfall. BNPB spokesman Berton Suar Pelita Panjaitan explained that cloud seeding depends on having the right weather conditions and enough rain-carrying clouds in the target areas. Ground and air teams continue working around the clock even when cloud seeding is not possible.

Between January and July, fires burned more than 200,000 hectares of land — an area about three times the size of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital city. That is even more land than was burned during previous El Niño seasons in 2019 and 2023. El Niño is a natural weather pattern that changes wind, air pressure, and rainfall around the world. In Indonesia, it usually means very dry conditions, which makes wildfires far more likely to start and spread.

Many of Indonesia's wildfires are caused by a farming practice called slash-and-burn, where farmers cut down and burn forests to clear land for crops. Environmental groups say the government must tackle this root cause instead of just fighting fires after they start. "We hope the government will immediately address the root causes behind the haze that returns every year," said Indra Syahnanda of the environmental group WALHI. Until the practice is stopped, experts warn that haze crises will keep returning season after season.