Across the forests of central Kalimantan, on the Indonesian part of Borneo, the country is living through its hardest wildfire season in a decade, and the cause lies not only in the flames but in the ground beneath them. Peat, the dense and waterlogged soil that has built up over centuries, burns in a way ordinary fires do not: it smoulders underground, resists being drowned or smothered, and sends its haze drifting across borders. Millions of people breathing that air, in Singapore and Malaysia as well as Indonesia, are now caught in a struggle that is as much about the slow nature of the ear
Why a Peat Fire Is So Hard to Stop: BBC Reports from Indonesia's Worst Wildfire Season in a Decade
Millions of residents in the region are being choked by a toxic haze from the peat fires.
A fire that resists the efforts to stop it
Mark
Why is a story about a wildfire season built around the word peat?
Mimi
Because peat is the reason the fires are so hard to deal with. The report's aim is to explain what peat is and why fires in peatland are difficult to contain.
Mark
And the scale of it?
Mimi
Worst wildfire season in Indonesia in a decade, centered on central Kalimantan. The haze is choking millions of residents.
Luke
Let me mark a boundary. "Worst in a decade" is the report's framing. We don't have hectares, fire counts or air quality figures here.
Mark
What about the spread to other countries?
Mimi
The haze has reached Singapore and Malaysia. That turns a local fire into a regional concern.
Luke
True, but we don't know how heavily those countries are affected. The source says the haze spread there, not how bad it is.
Mark
Does the report say why this year is so bad?
Luke
Not in the written summary. It poses the question and says Tambunan explains peat, but the specific causes of this season aren't given here.
Mimi
So the honest takeaway is that the fires are hard to put out, and the haze may linger. That's an implication, not a forecast with dates.
Luke
Agreed. Watch air quality and official response measures, and wait for numbers before drawing bigger conclusions.
The Pulse
- Peat fires in central Kalimantan have pushed Indonesia into its worst wildfire season in ten years.
- A thick toxic haze is choking millions of residents and refusing to stay within national borders.
- Smoke has crossed into Singapore and Malaysia, turning a local blaze into a regional concern.
- Peat burns underground and resists containment, so responders are working against a fire that may not be easily extinguished and the haze may linger.
Across the forests of central Kalimantan, on the Indonesian part of Borneo, the country is living through its hardest wildfire season in a decade, and the cause lies not only in the flames but in the ground beneath them. Peat, the dense and waterlogged soil that has built up over centuries, burns in a way ordinary fires do not: it smoulders underground, resists being drowned or smothered, and sends its haze drifting across borders. Millions of people breathing that air, in Singapore and Malaysia as well as Indonesia, are now caught in a struggle that is as much about the slow nature of the earth as about the people fighting it.
The BBC's Liza Tambunan is in central Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, reporting on a wildfire season that the country has not seen in a decade. Her task is to explain the ground itself: what peat is, and why fires that catch in it are so much harder to put out than ordinary blazes.
The effects are already in the air. A toxic haze is choking millions of people in the region, and it has drifted across the border into Singapore and Malaysia, so the burning in Kalimantan now touches lives far from the flames.
The report's central question is why this season has been so severe, and its answer begins with peat. Its difficulty to contain is what separates this emergency from a routine burning season.
The available account is brief. It confirms the location, the scale, and the broad human toll, but offers no figures for hectares burned, air quality readings, or hospital admissions. Those specifics are in Tambunan's video. Even so, the purpose is clear: to explain the mechanism rather than only count the damage, which matters for how long the haze may last. Watch regional air quality in Kalimantan, Singapore and Malaysia, and the measures taken in response.
The BBC's Liza Tambunan is in central Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, where the country is going through its worst wildfire season in a decade. Her assignment is a specific one: to explain what peat is, and why fires in it are so much harder to put out than ordinary blazes.
The immediate consequence is in the air. A toxic haze has been choking millions of residents in the region. It has not stayed within Indonesia's borders either. The smoke has drifted across to neighbouring countries, including Singapore and Malaysia, which means the fires in Kalimantan are now a problem for people who live far from where the burning is happening.
The question at the center of the BBC's report is a simple one: why has this season been so bad? The report frames the answer around peat itself. Peatland fires, Tambunan explains, are especially difficult to contain, and that difficulty is what separates this emergency from a routine burning season.
The material available here is brief, and it is worth being plain about what it does and does not establish. It confirms the location, central Kalimantan, and the scale of the season, described as the worst in ten years. It confirms the human impact in general terms: millions of residents affected by the haze, and spillover into Singapore and Malaysia. It does not give figures for hectares burned, air quality readings, hospital admissions or the number of fires, and it does not set out the specific causes of this year's outbreak. Those details are in Tambunan's video explanation rather than in the written summary.
What the report does make clear is its purpose. Rather than simply counting the damage, it sets out to explain the mechanism: what peat is, and why a fire that takes hold in it resists the efforts to stop it. For residents breathing the haze, and for governments in Singapore and Malaysia watching the air across their borders, that explanation bears directly on how long the problem could last.
The practical implication follows from the report's own framing. Because peat fires are hard to contain, the haze may not clear quickly. What to watch next is regional air quality in Kalimantan, Singapore and Malaysia, and whatever measures are taken to respond to the fires.
Notable Quotes
Tambunan sets out to explain what peat is and why peatland fires are so difficult to contain.— BBC News report, paraphrased
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Climate & Environment