Siberia's fire-stricken area shrinks 1.3 times
NOVOSIBIRSK. July 31 (Interfax) - The area hit by forest fires in Russia's Siberia has decreased from 23,249 hectares to 17,793 hectares in the past 24 hours, the regional forestry department said in a press release on Tuesday.
Forty-fire forest fires burning on an area of more than 8,750 hectares have been extinguished in the past 24 hours, including seven major fires covering an area of 7,560 hectares.
Twenty-eight fires have been contained on an area of more than 4,306 hectares, including eight large-scale fires covering an area of over 2,660 hectares.
A total of 3,341 hectares of Siberia's forests were destroyed, it said.
"Up to 3,741 people, 340 units of equipment and 23 aircraft have been combating the fires, including 362 specialists from the federal reserve of the Forest Protection Aviation Directorate," the department said.
Forest fires are raging in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Republic of Tyva, as well as the Tomsk and Irkutsk regions.
