CIS

Home page

CIS

Situation with Wildfires Improves in Russiaâ€™s Far East

13 June 2012 04:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. An acute situation with wildfires in Russiaâ€™s Far East improves as firefighters and rescuers extinguished 12 forest fires over the past 24 hours, a statement from the regional forestry department said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting en.rian.ru website.

Over 500 people, 65 units of specialized vehicles and 15 aircraft, including 11 helicopters, were involved in extinguishing the wildfires, which covered an area of some 1,799 hectares over the past 24 hours, the department said in a statement.

The department said, however, that â€œas of Wednesday morning, 27 wildfires remain active in the region, but they pose no danger to residential areas.â€

The dry winter, the early onset of warm weather and strong winds, as well as the localsâ€™ habit of burning away old grass in the spring have resulted in an unusual amount of wildfires across the Far East and Siberia starting in early April.

In 2010, central Russia was blanketed by wildfires, which covered some 200,000 hectares of land and blanketed many cities, including Moscow, with acrid smog.