Dire wildfire situation persists in 12 districts of Yakutia - Russian emergencies ministry
YAKUTSK. Aug 9 (Interfax) - As many as 156 wildfires are raging in Yakutia, where the challenging wildfire situation persists in 12 districts, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's press service for Yakutia said on Monday.
"Three fires burning on over 16,000 hectares in total have been extinguished and another eight covering more than 60,000 hectares have been contained in the past 24 hours," the press service said.
"The group of forces [battling the wildfires] has increased to 495 people, while the amount of hardware has been brought to 74 pieces by enhancing the forces fighting current wildfires in eight districts of Yakutia," the press service quoted the director of the Emergency Situations Ministry's Yakutia branch, Pavel Garin, as saying.
"In all, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry has contributed 17 pieces of hardware to the efforts to battle the forest fires in Yakutia. They include ten armored personnel carriers, three Ural trucks, two KamAz trucks, and two BAT-M trail-builders, as well as 128 personnel," it said.
A regional emergency has been declared in Yakutia due to forest fires.
Smoke from wildfires has prompted the closure of several sections of regional and federal roads.