KRASNOYARSK, June 7 (Itar-Tass) —— The area of wildfires is growing in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory. Thus, as of 13:00 Moscow time, there were 27 wildfires on an area of 2,049 hectares of taiga, whereas in the morning fire consumed only 1,263 hectares of forests, a spokesman for the local forestry protection centre told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
According to the spokesman, the bulk of fires are reported from the territory’s northern and eastern districts. About 1,300 hectares on taiga are seized by crown fire, which is the most difficult to extinguish. Such fires cannot be put out by land-based fire-fighting vehicles. Moreover, these fires are located far from motor roads, so aircrafts have been involved in the fire fighting operation.
The fire fighting operations involve more than 550 rescuers. Fire experts say the majority of wildfires were caused by natural reasons, such as the so-called dry thunderstorms, when lightning is never accompanied by rainfall. Other reasons are mishandling of fire by local dwellers. One fire was caused by a spark from the electricity transmission line.
In all, since the beginning of this year’s wildfire season, there were 894 fires on an overall area of more than 16,000 hectares.