Indonesian authorities have charged 72 individuals with intentionally igniting forest fires across five provinces on the island of Borneo and four on Sumatra.
Fires across both islands have burned nearly 286,000 hectares (about 707,000 acres) of land from January to Aug. 24 alone, according to FireWatch, a satellite-based monitoring tool developed by forest-mapping platform Nusantara Atlas. That’s an area half the size of the island of Bali. Officials say prolonged dry conditions and a powerful El Niño this year have severely worsened the wildfires.
In a statement, local law enforcement alleged that the 72 suspects used fire to clear land in preparation for planting. Police seized lighters, fuel containers, machetes, axes, and samples of burned soil and tree trunks among various items of evidence.
The smoke from the wildfires has caused choking haze clouds that have reduced visibility to just 10 meters (33 feet) in one province, according to the Associated Press.
Mongabay previously reported that the fires have also caused hazardous air quality, and the destruction of vegetation has led to food shortages for wildlife like long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). The smoke has even drifted across the border to neighboring Malaysia.
The wildfires have also affected critical conservation work, Mongabay previously reported. In Borneo’s West Kalimantan province, fires came close to an orangutan rehabilitation facility run by the nonprofit YIARI, where more than 60 critically endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) are housed after being rescued from the illegal wildlife trade and habitat loss.
Meanwhile, the health toll is rising rapidly. In the six worst-affected provinces, the Indonesian Ministry of Health reported that acute respiratory infection cases have surged. In Central Kalimantan province, cases jumped by 78.1% in just one week, from 402 to 716, while West Kalimantan has recorded more than 151,000 cases since January.
In a press release, Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said emergency responders have successfully extinguished or contained 526 hectares (1,299 acres) of active wildfires. This includes 71.5 hectares (176 acres) of localized brush and forest fire outbreaks, and 454 hectares (1,122 acres) of larger, high-priority peatland and forest blazes.
Firefighting operations so far have included air-dropping millions of liters of water on intense blazes in remote terrain from aircraft. On the ground, tens of thousands of personnel, including military units, professional firefighters, and volunteers, are also helping douse the flames directly.
Since fires frequently smolder deep in dry peatlands, crews are digging containment trenches — specialized water-filled barriers dug into the earth to isolate a fire — to block the fires’ spread. The BNPB also said authorities are carrying out cloud seeding to induce rainfall.
Banner image: Firefighters carry their equipment as they attempt to extinguish a wildfire in a peatland area in Palembang, South Sumatra province, on Aug. 11. Image by AP Photo/Muhammad Hatta.
