All news

Total number of fires in 2011 drops by third vs 2010 – Zubkov.

In the current year, 6,200 kilometres of forest roads were built for the forest protection

MOSCOW, December 19 (Itar-Tass) —— The total number of fires in this year’s fire-prone season decreased by a third as compared to 2010, and went down by 25 percent as against average indicators of 2008-2009, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said during Monday’s meeting of the government’s Council for Forestry.

In his words, the total area of forests suffered from wildfires decreased from 2.1 million hectares in 2010 to 1.6 million hectares in 2011.

“In the current year, 6,200 kilometres of forest roads were built for the forest protection, as well as 11,700 kilometres of roads were reconstructed and 256,000 kilometres of mineralised fire-break lines were created,” he said.