Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Firefighters are trying to put out a peatland fire threatening homes on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island

Firefighters are trying to put out a peatland fire on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island that was growing in size near a dense residential area

Muhammad Hatta
Friday 18 August 2023 01:21 EDT

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Firefighters on Friday were trying to put out a peatland fire on Indonesia's Sumatra Island that was growing in size near a dense residential area.

The effort is made difficult by the limited firefighting equipment and distant water source, a one-hour trip to the fire's location in the area of Pulau Negara village in South Sumatra province.

Local residents are helping the firefighters since the fire is burning near their homes. The number of homes at risk was not immediately available.

The fire started in bushes and trees Wednesday and was burning close to a highway that connects the Ogan Ilir district capital to Palembang, the capital city of South Sumatra province.

“The local joint task force is trying to prevent the fire from spreading to the toll road causing dense smog,” said Haniman, an official from the firefighting task force.

Indonesia’s forest and land fires are an annual problem that strains relations with neighboring countries. The smoke from the fires has blanketed parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand in a noxious haze.

Indonesia’s dry season fires were particularly disastrous in 2015, burning 2.6 million hectares (10,000 square miles) of land. The World Bank estimated the fires cost Indonesia $16 billion, and a Harvard and Columbia study estimated the haze hastened 100,000 deaths in the region.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in