Share to ClassroomVolunteers Fight Indonesia's Peat Fires, Smoke Spreads
Thousands of volunteers are fighting huge fires in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. The fires are burning peatland, and they have sent toxic smoke across South East Asia. Many volunteers are local Indigenous people. They have worked for more than a month with hand tools and small pumps. About 200,000 hectares of forest and farmland have burned since early July.
The land is very dry because of a strong weather pattern called El Niño. Peat is a soft soil made of old plants. It holds a lot of carbon from thousands of years ago. When peat burns, all this carbon goes into the air, so experts call peatlands "carbon bombs". But many peatlands were drained – the water was taken out – to make space for plantations, so now they burn easily. Police have arrested 72 people suspected of starting fires.
The smoke has reached Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines. In some places, the air pollution was almost 75 times higher than the level the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends. In Indonesia, more than 50,000 people got breathing infections. Two volunteers have died. Reports say their health got worse while they fought the fires. Nine orangutans were moved to safety. Heavy rain could stop the fires, but it is not expected until November.
