Wildfires burning on over 1 mln hectares in Russia's Yakutia, 13 localities in danger - region's head
YAKUTSK. Aug 12 (Interfax) - The wildfire situation in Russia's Yakutia remains challenging, Yakutia head Aisen Nikolayev said at a press briefing, adding that wildfires are currently raging on more than one million hectares.
"The situation here is difficult. Today, we are battling 63 wildfires on an area of over one million hectares. Thirteen populated localities are in danger [...] The efforts to fight the wildfires involve around 5,000 people, including 128 Defense Ministry personnel, some 300 specialists from the Emergency Situations Ministry, and more than 1,000 people from the forest protection service Lesokhrana, among them 250 people from the republic's Lesokhara, the others are from the federal reserve and forces from other regions of the Russian Federation," Nikolayev said.
Apart from them, 300 volunteers from the local population are helping fight the wildfires.
As reported, a regional emergency has been declared in Yakutia due to forest fires, the overall area of which has exceeded 6.6 million hectares.