KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Water bombing and other fire-fighting strategies are being developed as authorities rush to combat elevated levels of haze drifting over from neighbouring Indonesia, which has already sent Singapore’s air pollution reading to a record high.

Singapore’s air pollutant index (API) soared past the government-designated “hazardous” level of 300 before midnight, the AFP news service reported today.

The southern sections of the peninsula have also been hit by the haze, with several districts going into “unhealthy” levels of pollution, according to the Meteorological Department. The department also cautioned vessels plying the Straits of Malacca that visibility was at “dangerously” low levels for ships without satellite navigation systems.

“We will use helicopters and water bombing to put out forest fires that are too deep to reach,” Datuk Soiman Jahid, the deputy director-general of the Fire and Rescue Department, was quoted as saying by The Star on its website today.

“We have already done training with our officers.”

The strategy currently being drawn up seeks to tie up disparate departments from district to national levels in order to better co-ordinate efforts to combat both fires and mitigate the spread of the haze.

Soiman also said his department has already put out six peat fires in Selangor this month.

The haze is expected to persist into today because of the wind direction, and Singapore’s Health Ministry has advised residents to limit prolonged or heavy outdoor activities.

Indonesia’s Meteorological Department also reported a surge in the number of hotspots in Riau and surrounding provinces, which shot up to 187 on Tuesday from 113 the day before.

Southeast Asia’s worst haze crisis took place in 1997-1998, causing widespread health problems and costing the regional economy billions of dollars as a result of business and air transport disruptions.

The now-annual affair triggered allegedly due to land-clearing activities by plantation firms in Indonesia has also caused friction among the ASEAN neighbours, with regular bouts of finger-pointing over which was ultimately to blame for plunging the region into smog.