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18 aircraft putting out wildfires in Siberia

The wildfire rate is the highest in the Tomsk region

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

KRASNOYARSK, August 3 (Itar-Tass) — Five wildfires were put out in Siberia over the past day. Some 17,900 hectares are still ablaze, and 30 fires are confined on 7,300 hectares, the Siberian regional center of the Emergency Situations Ministry told Itar-Tass on Friday.

Eighteen aircraft of Avialesookhrana, the Emergency Situations Ministry and the Defense Ministry, including 16 aircraft of the Emergency Situations Ministry – Ilyushin Il-76, Beriyev Be-200ChS amphibious jets, Antonov An-24 and Mil Mi-26 and Mi-8 helicopters, are fighting the fires.

Last day alone Emergency Situations Ministry aircraft dumped 535 tonnes of water in 48 flights. Defense Ministry aircraft – Ilyushin Il-76 and Mil Mi-8 – performed 95 flights and dumped 360 tonnes of water.

“A total of 2,468 persons and 286 fire trucks are putting out fires on land,” the center said.

The wildfire rate is the highest in the Tomsk region. Forests are burning on 8,800 hectares there. Some 5,800 hectares of the taiga are burning in the Krasnoyarsk territory, and another 3,300 hectares in Tuva.

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