Thick haze from forest fires in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province has disrupted airline operations and posed ongoing challenges to firefighting efforts, officials said. Since Friday, the city of Pontianak has been shrouded in dense white and yellow smoke, significantly reducing visibility to less than one kilometer. The poor air quality has also hindered efforts to control the blazes, even as specialized firefighting equipment from Japan was deployed to the area on Thursday.

The fires, exacerbated by an intensifying El Niño weather pattern and a protracted dry season, have persisted for more than a month across parts of Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo island. While seasonal forest fires are starting to ease nationwide, thick smoke continues to blanket sections of the island, particularly in West and Central Kalimantan provinces.

In a statement released Monday, Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry reported a marked decline in “high-confidence” hotspots—locations strongly suspected of active fire—in both Central and West Kalimantan. The ministry indicated that no such hotspots were detected in Riau province, another region affected earlier in the season. Despite the reduced number of fires in some areas, officials noted that smoke from ongoing fires in neighboring provinces has been carried by prevailing winds into West Kalimantan, contributing to the persistent haze.

Daniel, head of the Disaster Information Task Force at the West Kalimantan Provincial Disaster Management Agency, explained that much of the smoke affecting Pontianak is transported from other burning areas on the island. Local residents have voiced concerns about the health impacts of the haze and expressed hopes for relief. Aminah, a resident of Pontianak, conveyed a communal wish for rain to alleviate the situation and reduce the threat posed by the fires.

Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency confirmed that fires remain active in several parts of Kalimantan, mainly in West and Central Kalimantan. According to the Forestry Ministry’s figures, more than 202,000 hectares of land had been burned between January and July this year—an area nearly three times the size of Singapore—underscoring the scale and severity of the wildfires and their ongoing impact on the region.