Indonesia Records 224,000 Fire Hot Spots as Super El Niño Intensifies Wildfires

1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 24

More than 224,000 hot spots indicating fire activity had been recorded across Indonesia by Aug. 20, an unusually high count that experts say signals a worsening fire season.
Super El Niño is drying the archipelago and suppressing the rains that normally help extinguish seasonal fires, with ecologists warning the current acceleration could continue through September, October and into mid-November.
West Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo has already endured weeks of peatland fires, with thick haze spreading into Malaysia, schools temporarily suspending classes and local officials distributing masks and urging residents to stay indoors.
Nusantara Atlas founder David Gaveau said the trend resembles 2019, one of Indonesia's worst fire years, when as much as 7.7 million acres burned, and warned new mega fires could emerge in southern Sumatra in September.