El Nino worsens Sumatra wildfire, nearly 300 homes destroyed

World Oct 13, 2026

A huge wildfire, made worse by the El Nino weather pattern, has swept through the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

It broke out over the weekend and quickly destroyed nearly 300 homes in Bangka Belitung province.

Nearly 1,000 people had to leave their village as strong winds and peatland helped the fire spread faster than locals could handle with water pumps.

Indonesian government deploys over 60,000 people

Experts say these are more intense this year because of El Nino and slash-and-burn farming making things worse.

The smoke has seriously hurt air quality, causing health problems locally and air pollution spikes in Singapore and Malaysia.

In response, the government had deployed more than 60,000 people on the ground as communities try to recover from all the damage.