Haze: the API reading and school closures

Sibu's air pollutant index right now, whether it has gone up or down since last night, what the Department of Environment says to do at that level — and who actually decides whether schools close.

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Schools, and the API 200 rule

The reading is below 200, which is the level at which the National Haze Action Plan closes schools, kindergartens and childcare centres.

A closure is decided and announced by the education authorities, not by this index and not by this page. This page shows the reading and names who decides. Check the announcement channels below, and your own school.

Who decides

The National Haze Action Plan sets the level, but the plan itself routes the decision through the disaster management committee, and the closure order comes from the education authorities. These are the bodies involved:

Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC / JPBN Sarawak) — chaired by the Deputy Premier; this is the committee that decides and announces a closure for the state, and the National Haze Action Plan routes the decision through it rather than making it automatic
Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Sarawak (Sarawak State Education Department) — the schools, kindergartens and childcare centres that close are the ones under its jurisdiction, and the closure order reaches them through it
Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah Sibu (Sibu District Education Office) — holds the list of schools in the Sibu division and is who your own school answers to

Where a closure is announced

State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) — Sarawak Government — the committee that announced the Serian closures on 12 August 2026
Sarawak Government — news and announcements — where state announcements are published
Ministry of Education Malaysia — national announcements affecting schools

Which way it is going

Falling — over the last 12 hours this station has gone from 66 to 61.

The highest reading in the last 24 hours was 81, at 11 Oct, 8:00 pm.

The last 24 hours

Hour	API	Band
12 Oct, 7:00 pm	61	Moderate
12 Oct, 6:00 pm	61	Moderate
12 Oct, 5:00 pm	60	Moderate
12 Oct, 4:00 pm	60	Moderate
12 Oct, 3:00 pm	60	Moderate
12 Oct, 2:00 pm	60	Moderate

Where this reading comes from

The reading is taken at the Department of Environment's monitor at Balai Polis IPD Sibu, the district police headquarters on Jalan Abang Openg, about 2.7 km north-north-east of the town centre. DOE classes the site as sub-urban. It is the only official monitor for Sibu, so the number describes the air a couple of kilometres from the middle of town rather than the air on your own street — close enough to be the right number to watch, far enough that it is worth knowing.

Around the state

Haze arrives across a whole region rather than at one town, so the stations nearby are worth a look — they are often where tomorrow’s reading here is today.

The highest reading in the state right now is Sri Aman, at API 162.

Station	API	Band
Sarikei — 38 km west-south-west, downriver on the Rajang	60	Moderate
Sri Aman — 126 km south-south-west, on the road towards Kuching	162	Unhealthy (for sensitive group)
Samarahan — 175 km west-south-west, near Kuching	138	Unhealthy (for sensitive group)
IPD Serian — 187 km south-west, in the division that borders Kalimantan	160	Unhealthy (for sensitive group)
Kapit — 126 km east-south-east, upriver on the Rajang	89

Where the fires are

The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre counts fire hotspots from satellite passes across the region each day. These are the counts from the most recent pass:

Region	Hotspots
Sabah and Sarawak	0	NOAA20 pass, 12 October
Kalimantan	67	NOAA20 pass, 12 October

A hotspot is a heat signature detected in one satellite pass. The count says how many were seen, not who lit them, not whether any particular fire is what you can smell, and nothing about where the smoke will go next. Cloud cover hides hotspots, so a low count is not proof of a quiet day.

Good to know

What happened in Serian on 12 August, and why it is the point

At 4 p.m. on 12 August 2026, Tebedu read 212 and Serian 202. A hundred and seven schools in the Serian division were closed, and the Deputy Premier — who chairs the state disaster management committee — announced it. By 5 p.m. Serian had eased back to 198. So the same evening produced a reading above 200, a reading below it, and a closure: the level is what starts the conversation, and a committee is what ends it. That is why this page will never tell you whether school is on.

The Star, 12 August 2026

Five Sarawak stations the DOE feed does not carry

The Natural Resources and Environment Board Sarawak publishes Tebedu, Lundu, Lubok Antu, Lawas and Bario alongside the DOE stations. Tebedu is the one that crossed 200 on 12 August, and it sits on the Kalimantan border — which is why the NREB table is worth opening when the reading here is climbing, even though its numbers for Sibu are the same DOE numbers, published about an hour later.

NREB Sarawak, Daily Haze Watch

Most of the burning is not in Sarawak

On the satellite pass of 12 August 2026 the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre counted 29 fire hotspots across the whole of Sabah and Sarawak, and 292 across Kalimantan. That is what transboundary haze means in practice, and it is also why the reading here can climb on a day when nothing local is burning.

ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre, daily hotspot counts

Why the number lags what you can see

During haze the API is driven by fine particles, and the particle sub-index is a 24-hour running average. So the index keeps climbing for hours after the smoke arrives, and stays high for hours after the air has visibly thinned. If the sky looks better than the number, both can be true at once.

Official pages

APIMS — the Department of Environment's live air quality portalthe authoritative reading for every station in Malaysia
NREB Sarawak — Daily Haze Watchthe state board's own table. It republishes the same DOE numbers about an hour later, so it is not a second opinion — but it carries five Sarawak stations the DOE public feed leaves out: Tebedu, Lundu, Lubok Antu, Lawas and Bario
Department of Environment Malaysiathe department that computes and publishes the API
ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centreregional haze and fire hotspot monitoring for ASEAN