ULAN-UDE, April 23 (Itar-Tass) —— The taiga keeps burning in the Trans-Baikal Territory on Monday. A major fire is raging five kilometres away from the district centre Sretensk.
“Some 32 forest fires were reported on over 920 hectares for the past day. Eleven fires were put out. Some 21 fires keep burning on 812 hectares,” a source in the territorial authorities told Itar-Tass on Monday.
“A burning fire is big, according to the emergency situation service. The fire is burning five kilometres away from the district centre Sretensk. For the first past day the forest fire area went up from one to 200 hectares. Some 34 people and eight units of machinery are involved in the fire-fighting, but they fail to localize the fire,” the source said. Over 560 people and 115 units of machinery are involved in the fire-fighting efforts in the Trans-Baikal Territory. Two helicopters Mi-8, four helicopters Mi-2 and two airplanes An-2 are on a reconnaissance party over a hard forest fire situation in several districts.
The amphibious airplane Be-200 and two emergency helicopters Mi-8 are on standby, the deputy prime minister of the territorial government and the head of the committee for the cleanup of emergency situations, Alexander Kholmogorov, said,
Some 24 uncontrolled dry grass fires were reported in the Trans-Baikal Territory over the past day despite their full ban. The regional emergency situation committee introduced a tougher ban on the visits to the forests and steppes.
Commenting on the situation in the settlements, which were hit by the steppe fires, namely Bayan-Bulak, Verkhny Tsasuchei and Vasilyevsky Khutor, the deputy prime minister of the territory, Alexander Kholmogorov said, “All people affected in the fires already received 10,000 roubles each for primary needs, and the works continue to launch the construction of residential houses in May.”