The volunteers risking their lives to defuse Indonesia's wildfire 'carbon bombs'

What the report says

BBC World News reports that volunteer firefighters are battling a major peatland wildfire crisis in Indonesian Borneo, where underground fires are smouldering through carbon-rich soils and sending dense haze across South East Asia. The story, reported from Banjarbaru in Kalimantan, says the blazes have burned about 200,000 hectares of forest and farmland since early July and have been worsened by drought conditions linked to a strong El Niño pattern.

The article explains that Borneo’s peatlands are among the world’s largest tropical carbon stores. When drained or burned, they can release large amounts of greenhouse gases and toxic smoke, which researchers say makes these fires especially dangerous for both climate and public health. The BBC says pollution has affected Indonesia and nearby countries including Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and, in earlier reporting from the region, parts of wider South East Asia. It cites health authorities in Indonesia as recording more than 50,000 respiratory infections tied to land and forest fires between July and August, including many cases in young children.

At the frontline, volunteers — many from Indigenous Dayak and Banjar communities — are using pumps, hand tools and makeshift water systems to try to stop the fires spreading underground. Several local firefighters described severe smoke, while the BBC said two volunteers in Central Kalimantan recently died after their health worsened during firefighting work.

The report places the crisis in a wider context of decades of land clearing, plantation expansion and peat drainage in Kalimantan, which experts say have made the landscape more fire-prone and intensified recurring haze episodes in the region.