Indonesia has mobilized more than 48,000 personnel to battle wildfires burning across six provinces, deploying water-bombing helicopters and cloud-seeding aircraft as smoke shrouds cities and drifts into neighboring countries.
In Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan, schools were ordered closed for a second consecutive day as haze blanketed the city. In East Java, a blaze in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park has consumed nearly 900 hectares, roughly 2 percent of its total area, with helicopters and hundreds of firefighters and soldiers working to contain it. Across the border, 11 areas in Malaysia's Sarawak state recorded unhealthy air quality levels on Monday.
Forestry ministry data shows more than 107,000 hectares have burned nationwide since January, a 110 percent increase over the same period in 2023. The government has deployed 43 helicopters and up to 15 fixed-wing aircraft for firefighting and weather modification operations.