Wildfires in Indonesia have burned more than 1.9 million hectares of land from January through September 2026, according to data from a deforestation monitoring organization using satellite imagery. This area, nearly 12 times the size of London, represents a conservative estimate, as heavy haze and other factors have complicated satellite verification.
The monitoring group, Nusantara Atlas, reported that the figure of 1,916,588 hectares burned is likely an underestimation. Founder David Gaveau explained that the estimate excludes individual burn scars smaller than 6.25 hectares and aims to avoid false detections, while heavy haze from the fires further obscured satellite images during the assessment period. The data indicates the burned area is 38% higher than at the same point in 2019, a previous year of severe wildfires. However, comparable data from the catastrophic fires of 2015 is unavailable due to satellite limitations at the time. Gaveau suggested that the scale of this year’s fires could be similarly severe, citing the increasing number of detected hotspots.
The Indonesian government has yet to provide updated official figures since announcing that 202,000 hectares had burned by the end of July. Forestry Ministry spokesman Ristantio Pribadi stated that the government was still calculating the total burned area and cautioned that the numbers from Nusantara Atlas could not be immediately verified.
In response to the ongoing crisis, President Prabowo Subianto ordered a “massive deployment” of resources on October 19 to combat the fires. Currently, Indonesia has mobilized approximately 47 aircraft and 60,000 personnel to tackle the blazes. The government also pressured private companies operating in affected regions, urging them to deploy firefighting teams, cease burning activities, and submit action plans to authorities. Singapore’s Senior Minister K. Shanmugam emphasized that companies responsible for the fires would be held accountable.
Regional cooperation has intensified as Indonesian officials accepted aid from Malaysia and Singapore. Malaysia committed to sending three aircraft and 52 personnel to assist firefighting efforts, while Singapore’s assistance was confirmed but details remained unspecified. The fires have caused a regional haze crisis, notably raising air pollution levels in neighboring countries.
The deadly toll of the wildfires continued to rise, with the recent death of a volunteer firefighter on October 15 due to injuries sustained while battling flames in Tenger Semi Province National Park in East Java. He was the fifth member of his team to perish.
Meanwhile, public dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the crisis has mounted. On October 19, about 150 students protested in Palangkarya, Central Kalimantan, calling for stronger action. One protester criticized the government’s response as ineffective and described the fires as a gross human rights violation that should be recorded in history.