How severe are Indonesia’s wildfires?

SINGAPORE – As Indonesia’s wildfire season intensifies, authorities are on high alert as they work to contain the damage and avoid the devastation that hit the archipelago in 2015, the last time it faced such severe “super-El Nino” weather conditions. Indonesia has deployed cloud-seeding and firefighting aircraft in an effort to prevent fire and smoke from spreading in several key “hotspots,“ particularly in five provinces on Borneo island, home to vast stretches of fire-prone peatland. While El Nino is not a direct cause of fires, it serves as a catalyst, Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency chief said, with the additional heat and dryness enabling them to spread more quickly.