Borneo Wildfires Close In on Key Orangutan Research Stations
Wildfires in Gunung Palung National Park in Borneo have burned to within 200 metres of the Rangkong research station and threaten the Cabang Panti orangutan research camp.
The fires moved closer in the past few days, leaving only a narrow buffer around field buildings. Rangkong is a satellite station of Cabang Panti inside the national park. Scientists said the fire could reach Cabang Panti in 20 days at the current speed without intervention or large firebreaks — cleared strips meant to stop flames — according to reporting published 15 September 2026. The Guardian
More than 40 people, mostly field assistants, staff and local villagers, are working to save Rangkong. The margin is thin.
Hundreds of Bornean orangutans live close to the Cabang Panti and Rangkong stations. More than 2,500 orangutans are thought to live in Gunung Palung National Park. The animals studied there are Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii, a subspecies listed as critically endangered, meaning at very high risk of extinction in the wild. Research on wild Bornean orangutans has run continuously at the site since 1994. Gunung Palung Orangutan Project Prof Cheryl Knott of Boston University has led the science at Cabang Panti for 32 years. Knott said orangutans are fleeing the burned forest.
The risk has been building for weeks. On 4 September 2026, the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program reported a fire 1.5 km from its Rangkong Research Station inside the park. Access is limited. Cabang Panti is reached by a 5-hour trek into the forest, which shapes resupply, staff rotation and fire response. The program has suspended activities at Cabang Panti before when heavy haze threatened staff health, and it has a history of providing firefighting equipment to villages around Gunung Palung. Yayasan Palung has provided fire extinguishing equipment to LPHDs, village forest management groups, around Gunung Palung.
The park fires are part of a large fire season across Indonesia. In the first week of September 2026, Indonesia's wildfire emissions passed Russia's to become the world's highest, and Indonesian authorities said the 2026 fires are the most intense in 11 years. Reuters Wildfires burned at least 202,010 hectares of land in Indonesia from January to July 2026, according to Indonesia's Forestry Ministry. Reuters As of September 2026, wildfires had burned around 400 hectares around Nusantara near Indonesia's new capital. Reuters Rangers from wildlife rehabilitation foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia evacuated endangered orangutans as wildfires burned in West Kalimantan province.
The broader context here is one of combined risk to a long-term research site and the forest and communities around it. Three decades of steady observation at Cabang Panti have made Gunung Palung central to primatology, the study of primates, forest phenology, the study of seasonal fruiting cycles, and peat-swamp ecology. Interruption would threaten records that cannot be rebuilt elsewhere. At the same time, the current defense of Rangkong depends on field assistants and villagers, along with earlier equipment given to villages and LPHDs, which points to where containment will succeed or fail. For policymakers and conservation planners, the near-term factors to watch are wind-driven speed, smoke exposure limits for staff, and whether outside help with firebreaks and water arrives before the 20-day window closes.
