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Dry thunderstorms cause most fires in Far East

A total of 1,159 woodland fires engulfing an area of more than 48,000 hectares have been fixed in the Far Eastern Federal District this year.

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

KHABAROVSK, June 6 (Itar-Tass) — The areas hit by woodland fires have sizably increased in Russia’s Far East because of dry storms, according to the forestry department of the Far Eastern Federal District.

A total of 95 woodland fires have been fixed in the region over the past 24 hours, and 45 of them have been put out. Wildfires have hit an area of almost 2,700 hectares over the past 24 hours, the forestry department reports.

A total of 29 fires hit an area of 1,622 hectares in the Khabarovsk region, the regional department of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations reports. Sixteen wildfires are fixed in the neighboring Amur region. Forests are also ablaze in Yakutia, Kamchatka and Sakhalin.

Regional authorities step up firefighting efforts. Over 1,120 specialists, 186 units of ground hardware and 17 aircraft work are engaged in fight against woodland fires.

The fire emergency regime has been imposed in forests of six districts of the Amur region, and access to forests is restricted in nine districts of the Khabarovsk region as well as in some districts of Yakutia and Kamchatka.

A total of 1,159 woodland fires engulfing an area of more than 48,000 hectares have been fixed in the Far Eastern Federal District this year.

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