Residents and volunteer firefighters in Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan on Indonesian Borneo, celebrated in the streets this week as rain eased a toxic haze caused by wildfires burning since August.
Exhausted volunteers danced in puddles and kissed the ground on Wednesday night. “Praise be to God that there was finally rain,” firefighter Lukman El Hakim told AFP.
The city’s air quality index reached 4,000 this month, its worst reading ever and more than 13 times the environment ministry’s “hazardous” threshold. More than 11,000 people have been treated for respiratory infections, and the haze has also affected neighbouring countries.
The World Health Organisation links exposure to air pollution, including fine PM2.5 particles, to higher risk of illness and premature death. At least 11 people have died fighting the fires, the latest a 45-year-old forest ranger killed by a falling tree in North Toraja, South Sulawesi, on Wednesday.
Resident Muhammad Jihan Alwi, 23, jogged outdoors for the first time in months. “I’m happy to be out jogging again, breathing in fresh air,” he said.
