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Total area of wildfires in Russia’s Trans-Baikal territory reaches 12,700 hectares

Wildfires in 12 districts of Trans-Baikal territory are extinguished by 621 people, among them 96 parachutists who are firefighters of the state-run Chita air base and 73 paratroopers

© Yuri Smityuk/TASS

CHITA, May 13. /TASS/. The area of wildfires in Russia’s Trans-Baikal region has grown by 1,500 hectares over the past 24 hours reaching 12,700 hectares, the region’s state forest service said on Friday.

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"As of 8am local time (2am Moscow Time) there are 31 forest fires with a total area of 12,700 hectares in Trans-Baikal territory. Of these, more than 10,000 hectares are covered with forests. Seven fires covering the area of 4,400 hectares have been localized," it said.

Wildfires in 12 districts of Trans-Baikal territory are extinguished by 621 people, among them 96 parachutists who are firefighters of the state-run Chita air base and 73 paratroopers. In addition to this, firefighting efforts involve aircraft and 100 pieces of equipment.

Earlier reports said that the emergency situation regime had been imposed in the forests of Trans-Baikal territory because of dry windy weather and high temperatures.

In 2015, forest fires in the region began in March, firefighters were able to extinguish them only in August. They destroyed 174 houses, 562 people were made homeless, 48 were injured and 10 died.

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