Indonesia is blanketing southern regions in dry ice pellets dropped from aircraft as a persistent El Niño-driven drought fuels catastrophic peatland fires, triggering toxic smog across Southeast Asia and displacing thousands amid tens of thousands of recorded respiratory cases.
Officials and environmental monitors trace the fires to deliberate land-clearing practices by commercial plantation owners and local farmers who use fire to prepare soil for agriculture.
Emergency Dry Ice Operations in Kalimantan and Sumatra
Faced with stubborn underground peat fires that standard water drops cannot reach, Indonesian authorities turned to an experimental tactic. Planes scattered 1.5 tons of solid carbon dioxide pellets last Thursday over affected zones in Kalimantan and South Sumatra. Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Dudung Abdurachman explained to the BBC that the trial aims to break up the dense smog layer trapped in the lower atmosphere, allowing the pollution to rise and disperse.
The government has deployed more than 60,000 personnel alongside roughly 50 aircraft conducting water-bombing and cloud-seeding operations.
Village Devastation and Evacuations in South Bangka
The human toll escalated sharply when a peat fire swept through the village of Dusun Serdang in the South Bangka district. District head Riza Herdavid recounted that residents initially fought the advancing flames with portable water pumps, believing they had contained the blaze before a sudden wind shift drove the fire directly into the residential area.
The fire destroyed 305 homes and affected approximately 450 households comprising 1,800 people, with local disaster authorities reporting nearly 1,000 residents forced into evacuation centers.
My house is gone,
said Leni, 55, while staying with her family in an evacuation center. There was nothing left. I was only able to save myself and get my children away from here. I panicked; I didn't have time to take anything with me,
according to Vietnam.
Cross-Border Smog and Regional Friction
De giftige nevel is overgewaaid naar buurlanden en heeft onder meer Singapore en Maleisië getroffen. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service reported that Indonesian fire emissions accounted for nearly half of the global total over a seven-day period, pushing regional air quality to hazardous levels. In Singapore, the National Environment Agency recorded a one-hour PM2.5 concentration of 284 micrograms per cubic meter, pushing air quality into the “very high” category.
Officials in Singapore and Malaysia have questioned Jakarta’s handling of the crisis and its reluctance to accept foreign firefighting assistance. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Ministry of Health reported that respiratory infections across just seven provinces reached 283,270 cases by October 13, more than double the count recorded five weeks earlier.
Threats to Endangered Wildlife Habitats
The fires are ravaging fragile ecosystems that support endangered species, threatening critical habitats across Borneo and Sumatra. The International Union for Conservation of Nature warns that the blazes have impacted the natural range of roughly 52 percent of the island’s orangutan population. Conservation groups and regional conservation agencies have rushed to rescue displaced animals, including at least 46 orangutans in West Kalimantan since August.
Wildlife experts caution that even after the flames are fully extinguished, surviving animals face prolonged food and water shortages across the scorched landscape.