Dense smoke from forest and land fires is affecting Borneo and other parts of Indonesia in what Reuters, in a 16 September dispatch from Pontianak, describes as the country’s most intense wildfire season in 11 years. West Kalimantan and the city of Pontianak are among the worst-hit areas.

According to Indonesian Health Ministry data presented by spokesperson Widyawati and cited by Reuters on 10 September, more than 12.5 million people have been exposed to haze across seven provinces on Borneo and Sumatra. Fire-related respiratory cases in those provinces rose from 50,891 on 1 September to 113,336 by 9 September. The 16 September field report, carried by agencies and outlets including RNZ, also describes a local “Rumah Oksigen” (Oxygen House) initiative distributing oxygen to residents and firefighters.

The smoke does not stop at Indonesia’s borders. Air quality has also been affected in Singapore and Malaysia, part of the transboundary phenomenon known in Southeast Asia as haze. Reuters cited government data putting the area affected at about 202,000 hectares from January through July, while organisation YKAN estimated roughly another 600,000 hectares in August. Japan has sent three CH-47 Chinook helicopters and around 180 personnel, according to the same reporting. Indonesia’s environment minister has warned that fires could continue into early November if the rainy season arrives late.

The health figures belong to the ministry, not to an independent RoAdevăr assessment. The situation combines an environmental emergency with a public-health crisis: vegetation and peatland burn, and smoke particles can affect people hundreds of kilometres away. European climate context from the same day: the Montreal Protocol.

Image: Mesa Kala, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Fire haze in Berau (Kalimantan), August 2026, not a Reuters photograph from Pontianak. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Indonesian wildfires cause respiratory infections to double in a week, health ministry says (Reuters, 10 September 2026); Indonesia's choking wildfire, haze worsen breathing woes on Borneo | RNZ (Reuters, 16 September 2026).