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All forest fires put out in trans-Baikal territory

The territory has had two serious outbreaks of wildfires – steppe fires in the first half of April and forest fires in May
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

ULAN UDE, May 16 (Itar-Tass) —— All the forest fires have been put out in the trans-Baikal territory. Not a single taiga fire was reported over the past day.

“Seven fires on 56,600 hectares were put out by more than 310 firemen,” the territorial emergency situations department told Itar-Tass.

The territory has had two serious outbreaks of wildfires – steppe fires in the first half of April and forest fires in May. In all, 703 wildfires were reported on 377,000 hectares this season. The fires damaged residential areas. The authorities estimated the wildfire damage at 100 million rubles.

The Emergency Situations Ministry requested local residents not to visit forests and not to build up bonfires. “Rain helped stabilize the wildfire rate, but the territory still has a fire emergency regime,” the department said.