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Russia registers growing number of wildfires - Rosleskhoz

Emergency situation has been imposed on four districts of the Amur region

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, May 1 (Itar-Tass) - Wildfires in Russia have spread across an area of more than 9,200 hectares, the press service of the Russian Federal Forestry Agency (Rosleskhoz) told Itar-Tass.

“According to the federal monitoring service, 70 forests are blazing on an area of 9,206 hectares in various parts of Russian regions,” the press service said.

The hotbeds of fires have been registered in the Nizhny Novgorod, Sverdlovsk, Amur, and Irkutsk regions, in Buryatia, Tuva and Khakassia as well as in the Altai, Krasnoyarsk, Primorsky /Maritime/, Khabarovsk, and Trans-Baikal Territories.

Siberia and the Far East are facing the knottiest situation as 1,000 hectares are on fire in Tuva, more than 5,000 hectares in the Amur region and more than 2,000 hectares in the Jewish Autonomous Region.

Despite the facts, Rosleskhoz indicated that “the current fires pose no threat to residential areas and economic facilities.”

Emergency situation has been imposed on four districts of the Amur region.

“Besides, visiting forests have been banned for residents in 16 regions of the country,” Rosleskhoz said. “It is currently in effect in the constituent republics of Tuva, Komi and Mordovia, the Ulyanovsk, Voronezh, Tambov, Lipetsk, Kemerovo, Ryazan, Belgorod, Tver, Chelyabinsk, Moscow, and Amur regions, and the Perm and Primorsky Territories.”

Careless handling of fire and the burning of garbage and last autumn leaves stand behind the wildfires which the forecasts say do not show any signs of abating.

“North-western districts of the Rostov region, the central part of the Irkutsk region, the west of the Volgograd region, the south of the Tambov and Belgorod regions, the south-west of the Republic of Buryatia, and the Voronezh region as well as the Republics of Altai and Tuva are facing a high or very high risk,” the agency said.

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