Number of forest fires in Siberia keeps decreasing
MOSCOW. July 31 (Interfax) - The area of forest fires in Russia's Siberian Federal District decreased from an area of 1,506.7 to 1,487 hectares in the past 24 hours, the Siberian Federal District forestry department said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Ten forest fires with a total area of 649.4 hectares have been extinguished," the statement said.
Two fires with a total area of 2.3 hectares continue to rage in Buryatia, as do 20 fires covering 1,457.2 hectares in the Krasnoyarsk territory and three fires over 27.5 hectares in the Tomsk region.
In the past 24 hours 21 fires with a total area of almost 500 hectares were extinguished in the Siberian Federal District - in Buryatia, Tuva, the Transbaikal and Krasnoyarsk territories, the Irkutsk and Tomsk regions.
A total of 810 forestry experts and firefighters, 29 units of firefighting equipment and 16 aircraft were involved in extinguishing the fires.
"Dry storms are the main cause of fire outbreaks in the forests," the statement said.
A total of 17 fires with a total area of over 5,500 hectares were registered in Russia's Far East over the past 24 hours, the Far Eastern Federal District forestry department said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Thirteen fire outbreaks were registered in Yakutia, two in the Khabarovsk territory, one in each Sakhalin and Kamchatka. Four fires have been extinguished," the statement said.
As of now, 13 forest fires are still raging, 12 of them are in Yakutia and one in Kamchatka.
Over 940 forest fires covering a total area of 523,300 hectares erupted in the district since the fire season began.
