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All wildfires in Yugra put out, says Emergencies Ministry

On August 2, a state of emergency was declared in Yugra due to wildfires

KHANTY-MANSIYSK, August 15. /TASS/. At the moment there are no active forest fires in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region’s Yugra, all the wildfires have been extinguished, the press service of the regional Emergencies Ministry reported on Monday.

"As of 09:00 on August 15, there are no active forest fires on the territory of Yugra, all wildfires have been extinguished," the report said.

It rained in Yugra from Friday to Sunday, which was not recorded for about a month. Yugra Governor Natalia Komarova has earlier stated that the increase of the forest fires area was caused by abnormally high temperatures, lack of precipitation, thunderstorm activity and gusty wind.

Earlier, the Emergencies Ministry informed that the area of the current forest fires in Yugra decreased by almost eight times per day, down to 13,200 hectares. They have been localized. According to the ministry’s data, earlier the firefighting effort involved in extinguishing forest fires in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region amounted to approximately 1,600 people, including volunteers and specialists from other regions of Russia. The aviation group included several dozens of aircraft, including Be-200 and IL-76 airplanes of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, An-2 airplanes, and helicopters including those with water discharge devices.

On July 29, the regional authorities introduced special firefighting measures throughout the region, and on August 2 a state of emergency was declared in the forests due to wildfires. Residents of a large part of Yugra previously complained on social networks about smog and the smell of burning caused by forest fires.