Indonesia’s volunteer firefighters battle peatland ‘carbon bombs’ in Borneo crisis

Thousands of volunteer firefighters, many from indigenous Dayak and Banjar communities, are on the front lines of Indonesia’s worst wildfire crisis in over a decade. Fighting across Indonesian Borneo since early July, they are battling subterranean peat fires that have already carbonized approximately 200,000 hectares of forest and farmland under extreme drought conditions driven by a Super El Niño.

The situation is particularly dire because these fires are consuming one of the world’s largest tropical peatland ecosystems. Dr. Nisa Novita of the conservation NGO Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara describes the region as a “carbon bomb,” noting that deep peat deposits can store more than 6,000 tonnes of carbon per hectare—equivalent to the annual emissions of nearly 5,000 cars. When these waterlogged lands burn, they rapidly release millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane into the atmosphere.

The resulting toxic haze has created a transnational emergency, with air pollution indices in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines soaring to levels nearly 75 times the World Health Organization’s recommendations. Between July and August alone, Indonesia’s Health Ministry recorded over 50,000 respiratory infections linked to the fires, including more than 12,000 cases among children under five.

“It hits your nose straight away, your eyes burn – that’s more or less what it’s like,” said Dwi Sujatmoko, a 35-year-old volunteer firefighter. Sujatmoko and his teammates have been exposed to millennia-old microparticles of carbon, digging ponds and borewells through bone-dry earth to keep their hoses fed. Two volunteers in Central Kalimantan have died recently after their health deteriorated from prolonged exposure.

Experts warn that the crisis stems from decades of land-use changes dating back to the Suharto era, when vast tracts of rainforest were opened for logging and plantations. Professor Susan Page of the University of Leicester highlighted that industrial drainage of peatlands for monocrop agriculture has left the soil increasingly fire-prone. While indigenous communities have historically been scapegoated for using controlled burns in traditional farming, officials have largely avoided blaming the industrial actors responsible for draining the swamps.

“The worst thing here has been the smoke,” said Fahrin Ramadhianto, a firefighter in Banjarbaru, describing the smell as decaying wood being burned. With water supplies dwindling and fatigue setting in, volunteers remain deployed despite the dangers. “We’re doing everything we can to help deal with this haze disaster because it’s our duty,” Sujatmoko said, adding that many are hoping for rain to alleviate the persistent smog and reignitions.