JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has called for coordinated measures to address forest and land fires as drought and the El Nino phenomenon heighten wildfire risks across the country, said a government spokesperson on Monday (Aug 10).“As instructed by Mr President last night, we have coordinated the deployment of equipment for water bombing, including helicopters and aircraft to help extinguish wildfires,” State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi said, as quoted by news agency Antara. The government has also mobilised a multi-agency task force to contain fires that have spread across about 107,000 hectares, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Djamari Chaniago separately said at a press conference on Monday. The area is nearly one-and-a-half times the size of Singapore.Authorities are stepping up both aerial and ground operations as they seek to prevent transboundary haze from affecting neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, Djamari added. Prasetyo said a significant number of hotspots remained in West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan, while fires at East Java’s Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park were among the largest the authorities were tackling. He assured the public that firefighting efforts would continue with the involvement of the Forestry Ministry, the East Java provincial government, the military and the police, Antara reported. Authorities have extinguished a fire that burnt 550 hectares around Mount Bromo but new hotspots have emerged near the caldera, covering some 20 hectares, the head of the local disaster mitigation agency said on Monday.