PUBLISHED ONFebruary 02, 2026 2:25 PMBYSean LerIf you've been wondering about the smell of smoke in the air over the past two evenings, here's why.
In a Facebook post at about 7pm on Monday (Feb 2), Singapore's National Environment Agency said that it has continued to detect "persistent hotspots" near the city state, during its satellite pass at 2.20pm the same day.
The agency added that dry conditions are expected until Wednesday (Feb 4), when showers are forecast.
In an earlier release on Monday, the Meteorological Service Singapore said that thundery showers are forecast over parts of the island in the afternoon, on most days of the second half of this week.
Bernama reported that 15 firefighters have been battling a 121.4ha forest fire at Bio Desaru in Johor's Kota Tinggi since Sunday (Feb 1), about 37km northeast of Singapore.
According to Soleh Nasir, a senior official at Bandar Penawar Fire and Rescue Station, the firefighters — supported by a fire rescue tender, a utility vehicle, two portable pumps, 20 hoses and a backhoe — are drafting water from nearby ditches and digging fire breaks to contain the blaze.
"Aerial surveillance conducted at 11am has found that the fire is subsiding, but thick smoke persists as the blaze is burning across a logged-over area and peatland," Bernama quoted him as saying.
It was also reported that firefighting operations are taking place in strong, windy conditions.
Given that prevailing winds are blowing mainly from the northwest or northeast, Singapore is in a downwind position from where the fire is at.
Checks by AsiaOne on the Kota Tinggi Fire and Rescue department's Facebook page indicated that firefighters there have also been battling at least three other smaller scale fires on Monday.
Last week, firefighters battled a peatland fire in Taman Bayu Damai, Kota Tinggi, which took seven days to bring it under control.
It reportedly affected an area of about 99.54ha.
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