Overview
- Authorities arrested 72 people on Sunday in connection with 89 forest and land fire cases and said investigators are tracing bank and corporate records to identify who financed or ordered land clearing.
- Satellite and ministry data show thousands of hot spots across Borneo and Sumatra and the Forestry Ministry reported nearly 94,000 hectares burned in July alone.
- The government has stepped up aerial and ground suppression with cloud-seeding, dozens of water-bombing helicopters, authorization for 35 foreign-registered aircraft, and thousands of firefighters deployed to inaccessible hot spots.
- Dense haze from deep-burning peat and forest fires has crossed into Malaysia and Brunei, forcing nearly 600 school closures in Sarawak that affected about 200,000 students and triggering health and transport warnings.
- Experts say drained and degraded peatlands act as long-burning fuel that is hard to extinguish and that the strong El Niño raises the risk the season could deepen and stretch into the coming months, increasing health, climate and economic harms.