Field partners across West, Central, and East Kalimantan are working to contain fires, protect communities, and prevent further destruction of critical orangutan habitat.
Drone image of fire line in Sebangau peat forest- - photo Bernat Ripoll Capilla/BNF
The forest and land fires affecting Indonesian Borneo have intensified dramatically in recent weeks. Thick smoke is spreading across Kalimantan, fires are advancing through important orangutan landscapes, and locally based conservation teams are working under increasingly difficult conditions to protect forests, wildlife, and nearby communities.
Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry reported that at least 202,010 hectares burned between January and July 2026. Nearly 95,000 hectares burned in July alone as El Niño intensified the dry season. By the end of August, more than 1,400 volunteers and thousands of government personnel had been deployed, while water-bombing operations were being hindered by dense haze, poor visibility, and limited access to water. Reuters reported that authorities were also investigating fires covering more than 11,000 hectares within company concessions.
El Niño does not ignite these fires. Most begin through human activity, including agricultural burning, land clearing, accidental ignition, and fires that escape into surrounding vegetation. But El Niño creates hotter, drier conditions in which a manageable fire can become a regional emergency. Drainage and degradation make peatlands especially vulnerable.
Once peat catches fire, it can continue smoldering underground, evade surface firefighting, and reappear after crews believe an area is secure. These fires are particularly difficult to extinguish and produce enormous quantities of smoke and greenhouse-gas emissions.
West Kalimantan: Fire Moves Through Orangutan Refuge
The situation facing Yayasan Palung and the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program has become increasingly serious.
Field updates shared through OURF’s social-media channels indicate that fires have continued spreading through the four Village Forests of the Sungai Paduan landscape, north of Gunung Palung National Park. Recent reports placed the advancing fire within approximately 100 meters of the national park boundary.
These community-managed forests have become an essential refuge for orangutans displaced from surrounding areas. Monitoring by the Gunung Palung team has found that the number of orangutans using Sungai Paduan has more than doubled in three years. As other habitat has disappeared, more animals have concentrated within the remaining protected forest.
Community firefighting teams are trying to hold the fire line with limited equipment and, in some places, very little accessible water. Responders have had to search or dig for water while working to prevent fires from moving deeper into the forest or toward nearby homes. Emergency support is needed for pumps, longer hoses, protective equipment, fuel, transportation, communications, personnel, and the establishment of more reliable water points. IFAW’s field update describes the escalating conditions and the resources required by local teams.
Central Kalimantan: Preventing Peat Fires Before They Spread
In Central Kalimantan, Borneo Nature Foundation is working to protect the peat-swamp forests of the Sebangau landscape—home to one of the world’s largest remaining populations of Bornean orangutans.
Bornean orangutan in the haze -photo by Bernat Ripoll Capilla/BNF
Community firefighters have already responded to fires outside Sebangau National Park during the 2026 dry season. Their ability to locate and contain fires early is crucial. Once flames enter dried peat, suppression becomes vastly more difficult and the effects can persist long after the visible fire has disappeared.
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Fighting fires in the Sebangau peat forest - photo Bernat Ripoll Capilla/BNF
BNF’s response combines immediate readiness with long-term prevention: training and equipping community fire teams, patrolling vulnerable areas, blocking drainage canals, keeping peatlands wet, and restoring damaged forest. This work may be less visible than an emergency rescue, but it is one of the most effective ways to protect orangutans from fire.
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Roll of fire hose used to fight fires in the Sebangau peat forest - photo Bernat Ripoll Capilla/BNF
The catastrophic 2015 fire season burned approximately 10 percent of Sebangau’s forest. Subsequent research found that orangutans exposed to prolonged smoke changed their movement, resting patterns, and vocal behavior and showed signs of physiological stress. Preventing a repetition of that damage is central to BNF’s current work.
East Kalimantan: Protecting Labanan and the BORA Center
In East Kalimantan, the Centre for Orangutan Protection’s APE Crusader team has been responding to fires around Labanan Forest in Berau, where COP operates its BORA orangutan rescue and rehabilitation center.
COP previously reported fighting two fires in a single day. One threatened the forest-edge community of Tumbit Dayak Village. Another was detected at KM 32, approximately 1.3 kilometers from the BORA Labanan Camp.
COP’s personnel have worked alongside Manggala Agni, the Ministry of Forestry’s fire brigade, the Indonesian Army, the Labanan firefighting unit, and local emergency teams. Their task is not simply to extinguish flames but to keep fires away from communities, the rehabilitation center, and the forest that rescued orangutans will ultimately need if they are to return to the wild.
As COP stated in its field report: “Our orangutans cannot fight a forest fire. We can. And we will.”
Smoke Is Already Harming Orangutans and People
The consequences are no longer limited to burned vegetation.
On August 30, an adult male orangutan was found collapsed near a fire-affected palm-oil plantation in Ketapang, West Kalimantan. The orangutan, later named Sampurna, was suffering from breathing problems and suspected acute respiratory infection after exposure to heavy smoke. Veterinarians provided oxygen and intravenous fluids. Responders reported that seven orangutans had already been rescued because of the fires. Reuters documented Sampurna’s rescue and treatment.
Smoke affects entire landscapes. Orangutans and other wildlife inhale the same fine particles as firefighters, conservation workers, villagers, and children. Across affected areas, respiratory illnesses have increased, schools have shifted to remote learning, and poor visibility has disrupted transportation.
Fire also creates a slower emergency. Burned forests lose fruiting trees, nesting sites, and travel corridors. Orangutans that survive may be left without enough food and forced into farms, plantations, or settlements. What is later described as “human-orangutan conflict” often begins with the destruction of the animal’s habitat.
OURF’s Emergency Fire Appeal Is Still Active
OURF launched its Emergency Fire Appeal to support three trusted organizations that also administer regional components of our Orangutan Caring Scholarship program:
- Yayasan Palung in West Kalimantan
- Borneo Nature Foundation in Central Kalimantan
- Centre for Orangutan Protection in East Kalimantan
Although these organizations are long-standing OCS partners, contributions to this emergency appeal are designated for their fire-related work—not for scholarships. Funds will support locally identified needs such as firefighting equipment, pumps and hoses, protective gear, patrols, transportation, fuel, field supplies, prevention, and the protection and restoration of fire-threatened habitat.
As of September 1, OURF supporters had contributed the equivalent of approximately US$1,027 to the appeal. With the matching commitment, those gifts represent a total projected impact of approximately US$4,107.
A committed OURF board member is providing a three-to-one match on eligible donations, up to US$5,000 in contributions. That means every US$1 donated becomes US$4 for the emergency response:
- A US$25 contribution generates US$100 in total support.
- A US$50 contribution generates US$200.
- A US$100 contribution generates US$400.
- A US$250 contribution generates US$1,000.
The appeal remains active because the emergency remains active. Fire crews must continue monitoring areas after visible flames are extinguished, watching for underground peat fires and re-ignition. Equipment must be repaired and replenished. Patrols must continue, and damaged forests will require protection and restoration after the rains return.
The uncomfortable truth is that there may be no dramatic rescue photograph when prevention succeeds. A patrol may find a fire while it is still small. A pump may stop flames before they cross a forest boundary. A canal block may keep peat too wet to burn. A community team may save habitat before an orangutan is forced from it.
That is the outcome we want.
Please support OURF’s Emergency Fire Appeal while the fourfold matching opportunity remains available. Together, we can help our partners protect the people, forests, and orangutans of Kalimantan before more habitat is lost.
