Indonesia’s Borneo gasps under toxic haze as peat fires burn below the surface

For weeks, a thick gray haze has hung over Indonesia’s portion of Borneo, leaving residents with stinging eyes, sore throats and a familiar sense of exhaustion as another fire season takes hold.

Al Jazeera reporter Jessica Washington, citing satellite imagery in a video posted in late August, said fires were visible on almost every major populated island in Indonesia, with especially severe conditions in West Kalimantan and South Sumatra. The smoke has become so thick in parts of Borneo that Al Jazeera described the air as toxic.

Firefighting crews have been stretched thin. In areas like West Kalimantan, there is little water available to douse the flames. In other places, flames are moving through drained peatlands, where the fire can smolder underground and continue spreading out of sight. That makes it much harder to put out completely, even when the visible flames are suppressed.

President Prabowo Subianto has expressed hope that the crisis will ease within the next couple of weeks, but crews on the ground face daunting conditions. Authorities have tried cloud seeding to bring rain, but Washington reported that there is simply not enough cloud cover to make that work.

The damage from the smoke extends well beyond the fire zone. It aggravates asthma and other breathing problems, reduces visibility, and forces families to stay indoors for days at a time. Parents miss work, children miss school, and household budgets come under pressure as daily routines fall apart. Hospitals and clinics can also see more patients with respiratory complaints, while flights and transport may be disrupted by heavy smog.

For the wider environment, the fires are another reminder of the pressures on Indonesian peatlands. These carbon-rich wetlands are often drained for agriculture and development, and once dried, they become highly flammable. Because peat can keep burning beneath the surface, fires can linger unnoticed and flare up again after the visible flames are out. Fixing that pattern requires restoring peatland hydrology, enforcing land-use rules, and catching fires earlier — before they have a chance to blanket the region in smoke.

Residents who responded to Washington’s reporting expressed frustration with the recurring haze. “They never stop ... every year we have to bear the haze, and people are getting sick!!!” one commenter wrote. Another said they felt sad for the orangutans and other wildlife that live in Borneo’s forests.

“People are having difficulty breathing,” Washington said in the video. “They’ve experienced those difficulties already for weeks, and it’s difficult to see when this crisis will end.”