Overview
- Fires remain active in mid-September with authorities expanding ground teams and deploying more than 50 aircraft for water-bombing and cloud seeding to cover new high-risk areas including parts of Java and additional islands.
- The blaze season has produced heavy transboundary haze that worsened air quality in Singapore and Malaysia and prompted local disruptions such as airport closures and school absences.
- Health officials have recorded more than 113,000 upper respiratory infections across seven provinces, and residents report burning eyes, headaches, and livelihood losses from smoke and prolonged outdoor exposure.
- Estimates of the area burned vary sharply: government data show about 202,000 hectares burned from January to July while independent projects estimate totals approaching 896,000 hectares after August.
- Officials and experts attribute the scale to a strong El Niño, drained peatlands and slash-and-burn clearing, and warn the season could continue into October or early November unless sustained rains arrive.