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Wildfires in Russia double in size over past 24 hours

The areas affected grew 56% from 2,300 hectares to almost 3,600 hectares

© Igor Ageyenko/TASS

MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. The areas affected by wildfires in Russia grew 56% from 2,300 hectares to almost 3,600 hectares over the past 24 hours, the aerial forest protection service Avialesokhrana reported on Thursday.

As of Thursday, 73 wildfires continued raging across Russia.

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Fires are raging on the area of almost 400 hectares in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory and 303 hectares in the Irkutsk region. Some 225 hectares are burning in Chukotka.

The firefighting effort involved almost 2,000 people over the past 24 hours. The personnel helped to extinguish fires on the area of 612 hectares, while almost 1,100 hectares of forest were burnt.

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