Military pilots put out wildfires on area of 753,000 ha in Siberia since Aug 1 - Russian Defense Ministry
MOSCOW. Aug 4 (Interfax) - The Military Aviation has extinguished forest fires on the area of 753,000 hectares in the Irkutsk Region and the Krasnoyarsk Territory over the last four days, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
"On August 4, the Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft carried out 24 flights, dropping 1,008 tonnes of water on the forests swept by fire. The Mil Mi-8 helicopters made 37 flights and dropped 650 tonnes of water 130 times. A total of 303,000 hectares of burning woods were put out, and 56 seats of open fire were eliminated," the ministry said in a statement seen by Interfax.
Since the start of the firefighting operation the Russian Defense Ministry group of aircraft has dropped about 6,000 tonnes of water on burning forests, the statement said.
Il-76 aircraft performed 94 flights, while Mi-8 helicopters - 153 flights involving firefighting efforts.
As reported, the Russian Defense Ministry group of aircraft, which includes ten Il-76 aircraft and ten helicopters, which are equipped with special water-dropping devices, have begun firefighting efforts in the Krasnoyarsk Territory since August 1.