Truly Scared

Toiling around the clock, haggard Indonesian firefighters on Borneo island cannot keep up with the blazes devouring landscapes and shrouding communities in a cloying haze. They are fighting a perilous battle with limited weapons against fires blamed in part on a stronger-than-usual episode of the El Nino climate phenomenon parching Southeast Asia.

"We are exhausted. Sometimes we carry out firefighting until dawn. Sometimes we don't sleep," said Sampe Ritonga, fire chief for Sintang regency. "Our facilities and infrastructure for firefighting are very limited." His team only has two 6,000-litre fire engines, deploying one at a time while the other refills. They also face a shortage of hoses.

100 times the safe limit

In Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province, people have been breathing foul air for weeks. At one point on Sunday, the level of PM2.5 pollution exceeded 500 micrograms per cubic metre -- more than 100 times the World Health Organization's recommended safe limit for airborne particles so small they can enter deep into the lungs and bloodstream.

"I am scared. Truly scared," said resident Sutrismi, 47, who heard a "crackling sound" and saw smoke rising from the peatland across the road. Hundreds of schools have been closed indefinitely in West Kalimantan, with about 200,000 pupils sent home due to air pollution.