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Forest fires reduced by 1,000 ha in Krasnoyarsk Territory

Thunderstorms, actions by the local population and sparks from power lines were the key reasons for fires

KRASNOYARSK, August 15 (Itar-Tass) — As of today the area of forest fires has been reduced by about 1,000 hectares in Krasnoyarsk Territory, the fireproof centre told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

If a total of 22 fires on the area of 1,813 hectares have blazed in the morning, a total of 16 fires on the area of 945 hectares have been registered as of 5 p.m. Moscow time, the fireproof centre reported.

Fire-fighters’ efforts and the abrupt change of weather conditions helped improve the situation. “Within the day the Il-76 aircraft dropped 84 tonnes of water. Over 600 specialists of Rosleskhoz (the Federal Forestry Agency), volunteers, 40 units of equipment and 13 planes have fought fires. The temperature is very much down within the day. It rained in the Boguchany district where the most number of fires have been registered,” the fireproof centre reported.

“At present, we don’t wait for new fires. We are fighting fires in forests that burned in previous days,” the centre explained.

At present, eleven fires on the area of 437 hectares should be put out by aircraft and four fires on the area of 408 hectares should be extinguished by ground hardware.

Thunderstorms, actions by the local population and sparks from power lines were the key reasons for fires.

Since the beginning of the fire season a total of 2,300 forest fires on the area of 318,000 hectares have occurred in Krasnoyarsk Territory. Last year a total of 1,348 fires on the area of 102,000 hectares were registered in the region.