Orangutans at Risk As El Niño Brings Severe Wildfire Season to Indonesia
By Andy Hsueh/John Van Trieste
Fire crews in Indonesia are fighting to prevent the worst as El Niño brings a devastating wildfire season to the country. One animal protection group is also working to evacuate endangered orangutans from burning forests to safe areas.
Indonesia Battles Mount Bromo Wildfire
REPORTER:
A lone figure faces down a wall of flames sweeping the slopes of Mount Bromo, a volcano that’s one of Indonesia’s biggest tourist attractions. For more than a week, firefighters like this have been locked in combat with this blaze.
REPORTER:
And since Saturday, officials have had to close the surrounding national park to visitors. At least 9 square kilometers—2 percent of the park’s area-- has been left in smoldering embers.
REPORTER:
As of Tuesday, there was some hope for getting this fire better under control.
Nelwan Harahap (DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE, NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AGENCY):
We hope to stop it from spreading any further today, as the hotspots have already been identified and are now being dealt with.
REPORTER:
But tourism is key to the local economy, and for many here, each day the park burns is a day of lost income.
Suryadi (TOURIST VEHICLE DRIVER):
The impact of this fire is economic, because tourists cannot come while the national park is closed.
REPORTER:
In total, almost 50,000 firefighters have taken up positions against fires across Indonesia’s many islands as the powerful El Niño climate pattern brings dry, windy conditions.
REPORTER:
Nationwide, more than 1,000 square kilometers are already scorched despite the efforts of firefighters and helicopter crews. Some authorities have even tried cloud seeding to coax rain from the dry sky.
REPORTER:
On the island of Borneo, thick haze has closed some schools. And the flames spreading through provinces here have also seen a special kind of rescue mission put into action.
REPORTER:
Wildlife rangers have been trekking through at-risk forests in search of endangered orangutans that need to be evacuated. It’s an operation rescuers have pulled off during past fires on the island. But conservationists know there are always risks even after the flames are out.
Karmele Llano Sanchez (FOUNDER AND CEO, WILDLIFE REHAB GROUP):
We might not see it all happening at the same time but maybe - even like months after the fire season where orangutans, because they starve, they don't have enough food, their forest patches have been burned - they might enter plantations, conflict with humans, increasing their conflict with humans.
REPORTER:
Forest fires aren’t unusual in Indonesia—but this year’s fires have been especially fierce. The last time El Niño affected Indonesia, in 2023, it brought fires, too. But the area burnt during the first half of this year is more than double that in the same period of 2023.
REPORTER:
And it may be some time still before all the blazes are out. The rest of August and September will likely see the same dry, windy conditions that have already made 2026 especially severe—bringing a serious challenge ahead for Indonesia’s officials and fire crews.
Andy Hsueh and John Van Trieste for TaiwanPlus.
