What happened to farmer Achmad Rusli’s tropical fruit? At his farm in Indonesia, trees and plants usually thrive. But not this year. Raging forest fires have ruined Mr. Rusli’s crop—but not by actually burning the fruit up. Instead, the fires blocked the sun.

How does a tree get along without the sun? If you said, “very badly,” you’re absolutely right! God made plants to use the sun’s energy. But Mr. Rusli’s tree didn’t see sunshine for over 10 weeks. Oranges, guavas, and durians (a stinky, spikey tree fruit) on Farmer Rusli’s land couldn’t grow.

So why all the fires? Did they just start on their own? Officials say no. They say people set the terrible fires on purpose! Whoever was responsible probably wanted to clear the land of trees. They used fire because it works fast. It also costs a lot less to light a match than to hire workers and machines. Large farming companies can save lots of money by setting fires.

Police are investigating many companies of the large landowners. They blame palm oil and paper pulp companies for damaging such a large part of the country. They still hope to find out who exactly set so many fires—nearly 50,000!

But lighting a few matches didn’t cause all the fire trouble in Indonesia. Lack of rain made everything worse. The land was dry and brittle. The fires spread quickly. They gobbled up everything they touched. The fires hurt more than the land too. At least 21 people died. More than half a million people got sick. Problems from the fires continue. Indonesia lost billions of dollars. Crops failed. Schools closed. Forest animals lost their habitat. If you asked a tourist if he or she wanted to visit smoky Indonesia, he or she would say “No way!” That hurt business for Indonesians too.

People in Indonesia tried to fight the fires. Helicopters dumped water. Elephants carried pumps and hoses. In the end, only God could end the fire crisis in Indonesia. He sent rain!