Wildfires burn through one-third of Papua New Guinea's Lou Island as villagers appeal for help

Manus Province community fights unprecedented blaze by hand under El Niño drought

By LineZotpaper

Published19 October 2026

Read Time2 min

Wildfires have scorched at least one-third of Lou Island in Papua New Guinea's Manus Province, with villagers appealing for international help after a week of fire destroyed forest, gardens and building resources they say are beyond local control.

Villagers on Lou Island in Papua New Guinea's Manus Province are appealing for international help after wildfires burned through at least one-third of their island, destroying forest and gardens that residents depend on for timber and food.

Ngenge Sasa, from Rei village in the island's north, told RNZ Pacific the impact has been devastating. Speaking from a high vantage point, he said the island appeared scorched and flat, with an entire forest seemingly vanished.

"It's a clean sweep," he said. "On the Eastern side ... all the trees that we use for building our houses, the roads and some of the gardens, all our resources have gone. This is one of the only forests that all of the island used for sawn timber."

The fire, which spread island-wide the day before, appeared to have tempered by around 7am local time, with smoke still visible on the southern end. Sasa said it was the first fire islanders had experienced in their lives.

Fellow coordinator Kireni Sparks-Ngenge said community members had been working tirelessly, risking their own safety, but the spread of the fire was out of their control. "We believe that the best equipment to put out this wildfire would be monsoon buckets, but have yet to find anyone who has and will deploy this equipment urgently," she said. Other critical support could include assessing fire boundaries, coordinating containment lines and using high-volume water pumps directly on active fire.

Reinforcements from Manus Island arrived the previous day, with firefighting efforts continuing until 3am. Sasa said people from all around Lou Island were joining the effort, carrying containers of water into the mountains to fight the remaining fire.

"But big damage has been done to our traditional land," he said. "These forests here were untouched forests from our great grandparents... now it's all gone on this side." He said a mainly garden forest on the northern side appeared to have survived.

The bushfires are battering communities across Papua New Guinea under El Niño drought conditions, with local fire and response teams often powerless to fight the blazes.

Analysis

Why This Matters

The fire has wiped out the island's main sawn-timber forest along with roads and gardens, stripping residents of the resources they need for rebuilding houses and growing food.
Villagers say the fire is beyond local control, so the international appeal for monsoon buckets, water pumps and containment support will help decide whether the remaining northern forest survives.
The disaster is part of a wider pattern: bushfires are battering communities across Papua New Guinea under El Niño drought conditions, where local fire teams are often powerless.

Background

Lou Island sits in Manus Province, off the northern coast of the Papua New Guinea mainland, and its communities rely directly on island forests for building timber, food gardens and ancestral land. El Niño events typically bring drier, hotter conditions across the western Pacific, raising bushfire risk in places where firefighting capacity is limited to community labour and whatever equipment is on hand. The islanders say this is the first fire of its kind in their lifetime, and it has been burning for a week.

Key Perspectives

Villagers and coordinators on Lou Island: Ngenge Sasa and Kireni Sparks-Ngenge describe an unprecedented blaze that has scorched at least one-third of the island. They say residents have worked around the clock with improvised means, but the spread of the fire is out of their control and urgent international help is needed.

Local and provincial response: Reinforcements arrived from Manus Island and firefighting continued into the early morning, while residents island-wide carried water into the mountains, efforts that the coordinators said were nowhere near enough.

Communities across PNG: The same drought conditions are driving bushfires across the country, and local fire and response teams are often powerless, making Lou Island one example of a broader national emergency.

What to Watch

Whether international responders supply monsoon buckets and high-volume water pumps, and how quickly such equipment can reach the island.
The fate of the northern garden forest, which Sasa said appeared to have survived as of the latest reports.
How the wider Papua New Guinea bushfire season develops while El Niño drought conditions persist.

Sources

Wildfires have destroyed one-third of small PNG island, responders say · RNZ New Zealand Headlines

Checked

12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 5 supported.

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Partly supportedHeadline: wildfires have burned through one-third of Lou Island, stated as fact.RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “Small island villagers in Papua New Guinea are appealing for international help to fight wildfires, which they say have burned through one-third of their land.”
Partly supportedOpening: wildfires have scorched at least one-third of Lou Island.RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “Speaking from a high vantage point, he said at least one third of the island appeared scorched and flat, and that an entire forest appeared to have vanished.”
Partly supportedSummary: a Manus Province community fights an 'unprecedented' blaze by hand under El Niño drought.RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “In Manus Province, Lou Island has battled wildfires for the past week, in what locals call an "unprecedented" disaster.”
SupportedSasa said the island appeared scorched and flat, with an entire forest seemingly vanished.RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “Speaking from a high vantage point, he said at least one third of the island appeared scorched and flat, and that an entire forest appeared to have vanished.”
SupportedSasa said: 'It's a clean sweep.'RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “"It's a clean sweep," he said.”
SupportedSasa said: 'This is one of the only forests that all of the island used for sawn timber.'RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “This is one of the only forests that all of the island used for sawn timber.”
Partly supportedSparks-Ngenge said the spread of the fire was out of the community's control.RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “Community members have been working tirelessly, risking their own safety, to try to kill the fire, but latest reports say that the spread of the fire is out of their control," she said.”
SupportedSparks-Ngenge said: 'We believe that the best equipment to put out this wildfire would be monsoon buckets, but have yet to find anyone who has and will deploy this equipment urgently.'RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “We believe that the best equipment to put out this wildfire would be monsoon buckets, but have yet to find anyone who has and will deploy this equipment urgently.”
Partly supportedOther critical support could include assessing fire boundaries, coordinating containment lines and using high-volume water pumps directly on active fire.RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “Other critical support could include assessing fire boundaries and coordinating containment lines, and use of high volume water pumps directly onto active fire.”
SupportedReinforcements from Manus Island arrived the previous day, with firefighting efforts continuing until 3am.RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “Sasa said re-enforcements from Manus Island arrived yesterday, with firefighters up until 3am, while locals island-wide kept up their efforts.”
Partly supportedThe northern garden forest appeared to have survived.RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “"There's another mainly garden forest on the Northern side, I think it's okay."”
Partly supportedThe wildfires destroyed forest and gardens that residents depend on for timber and food.RNZ New Zealand Headlines: “all the trees that we use for building our houses, the roads and some of the gardens, all our resources have gone.”