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10 forest fires reported in Russia’s Siberian Irkutsk region

According to the spokesman, five of these ten fires have been localized

IRKUTSK, October 5 (Itar-Tass) —— As many as 10 forest fires on an area exceeding 1,000 hectares are reported in Russia’s Siberian Irkutsk region, a spokesman for the local forest protection air base told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

According to the spokesman, five of these ten fires have been localized.

A total of 17 fires were put out in the region in the past 24 hours, three new fires were reported. The majority of fires are reported from the Bratsk region, where an emergency situation was imposed on October 1. Forest fires are also reported in the neighbouring Chunsky and Tulunsky districts, where an enhanced fire alarm regime was introduced on Tuesday.

In the mean time, a spokeswoman for the Siberian emergencies centre told Itar-Tass that a total of seven wildfires on an overall area of 838 hectares are still raging in the Bratsk district. Two out of these seven fires (63 hectares) have been contained.

Three rapid response teams of 15 men each have been set up to promptly detect and put out fires. Thirty rescuers were commissioned from Moscow and 25 – from the city of Yakutsk to join the fire fighting operations in the district. It is also planned to engage two Il-76 planes of the Russian emergencies ministry.

“There are no fires in the city of Bratsk,” the spokeswoman said.