Haze emergency hits Serian town in Malaysian Borneo

Acrid smoke hung heavily over the Malaysian town of Serian on Thursday, seeping into homes and cloaking roadside stalls as residents grappled with an air‑quality emergency. The haze, part of a broader transboundary pollution event, originated from extensive forest fires in Indonesia that have been burning for weeks, sending dense particulate matter across the Strait of Malacca into southern Malaysia.

Local authorities declared a state of emergency, urging people to stay indoors, limit outdoor activities, and wear protective masks when venturing outside. Schools in the district were temporarily closed, and health clinics reported an uptick in respiratory complaints. The Malaysian Ministry of Environment and Water announced that monitoring stations recorded PM2.5 levels well above the World Health Organization’s safe limit, and officials are coordinating with neighboring countries to address the source of the fires and mitigate further deterioration of air quality.