Wildfires in Siberia, Far East shrink to 2.4 mln hectares

MOSCOW. KAZINFORM The area of wildfires raging in Siberia and the Far East has declined to 2.4 mln hectares, the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s press service told TASS on Monday.

Last week, wildfires were blazing on the area of more than 2.8 mln hectares. «The wildfire area has decreased to 2.4 mln hectares. Some 441 active fire hotbeds are still reported and 31 of them have been localized,» the ministry said, TASS reports.

The Emergencies Ministry’s aircraft have poured nearly 900 tonnes of water on the fire hotbeds over the past 24 hours. Beriev Be-200 amphibious aircraft and Mil Mi-8 helicopters have been employed to battle wildfires in Siberia’s Yakutia, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk regions.

The Emergencies Ministry’s airmobile task forces bringing together 611 personnel and 32 pieces of equipment have been deployed to extinguish wildfires. More than 400 personnel and 13 units of equipment are on alert.