Homes in Pengayuan village faced immediate danger when peatland fires, intensified by drought linked to El Niño, advanced to within 100 meters of residences on Aug. 18.
Resident Siti Sarah described sleeping fitfully in August as fires ignited around her community and the surrounding peat. “The fire seemed to leap up,” she said. “All of a sudden it was right there, it grew so fast.” Siti joined neighbours in fighting the flames, later noting, “I also helped put out a fire,” and that she did so “by whacking it with a piece of wood.”
Two days after the Aug. 18 incident, firefighters moved quickly to douse another blaze on village grounds before it reached homes. Local community crews and government teams have been engaged in suppression since the main dry season began in July, attempting to contain outbreaks that commonly burn across peatlands on Borneo and Sumatra.
Those peatlands were drained in recent decades to make way for oil palm plantations as global demand for palm oil rose. That conversion makes soils and vegetation far more flammable when the landscape dries, and the practice of using fire as a low-cost land-clearing method allows blazes to start quickly. When peat is desiccated by drought linked to El Niño, flames can spread rapidly and become difficult to control.
The blazes also send thick haze across roads, forcing commuters to cover their noses while driving. With peatlands converted and dried, villages like Pengayuan remain exposed to fast-moving fires that can threaten homes and complicate suppression efforts.
Officials and community crews continue to battle flames as the dry season and El Niño-related dryness create conditions favourable to peat fires. The combination of drained landscapes and widespread use of fire for land clearing means the risk of further rapid spread will persist while those conditions remain.
