Wildfires in Indonesian Borneo Cause Severe Haze Across Southeast Asia Amid Super El Niño

Wildfires in Indonesia's Kalimantan region on the island of Borneo have burned through tens of thousands of acres, driven by intensifying blazes amid a super El Niño climate event. The resulting thick, suffocating smoke has created severe environmental and health hazards for local communities. Suwadi, a resident living in the affected area, described the visibility outside his home as reduced to barely five meters, noting that taking a breath feels like smoking a cigarette. The cross-border impact of the fires is growing as smoke drifts into neighboring countries. Suffocating haze from the Kalimantan blazes has already crossed over into Malaysia, and authorities in Singapore have been put on alert as air quality concerns spread across the region.