Sumatra Wildfire Destroys Hundreds of Homes, Forces Mass Evacuation in Bangka Belitung

A forest fire on Indonesia’s Sumatra island has razed nearly 300 homes and forced the evacuation of approximately 1,000 residents in Bangka Belitung province, local officials confirmed Tuesday, as the nation contends with an intense wildfire season exacerbated by El Niño.

The blaze first threatened the village on Saturday. Residents initially attempted to contain the flames using portable water pumps, believing they had succeeded, according to Mayor Riza Herdavid. However, the fire had been smoldering undetected beneath the peatland surface. A shift in wind direction rapidly drove the flames into the settlement, overwhelming the community.

“My house is gone,” said Leni, a 55-year-old villager currently sheltering with her family. “There’s nothing left. I could only save myself and take my kids with me… I panicked and didn’t have the time to grab anything.” Like many Indonesians, she uses only one name.

Another survivor, 50-year-old Haryanti, described how high winds accelerated the inferno through the predominantly wooden structures. “I immediately ran to save myself. None of my belongings survived… only the clothes on my back,” she said.

Mayor Riza noted the village was constructed on converted peatland within a protected forest area, rezoned for housing just last year. Peat soil is highly flammable when dry and allows fires to travel underground, making them exceptionally difficult to extinguish completely.

Indonesia faces wildfires annually during the dry season, but this year’s outbreak has been intensified by a powerful El Niño pattern—projected to be among the strongest in four decades—inducing severe drought. Experts also attribute the crisis to slash-and-burn land clearance practices that have degraded the naturally fire-resistant ecosystems of Sumatra and Borneo.

The resulting haze has triggered a public health emergency, with tens of thousands of respiratory illness cases reported locally, while air quality has deteriorated sharply in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia. In Borneo, thick smoke has grounded water-bombing aircraft, further hampering suppression efforts.

President Prabowo Subianto ordered maximum resource mobilization on Monday to combat fires that have persisted for three months in certain regions. Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya stated that over 60,000 personnel have been deployed for ground operations.

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