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Wildfires area in Russia’s Yakutia drops below 1 mln hectares

Some 70 residential areas in 12 districts have been affected by smoke caused by wildfires

© Donat Sorokin/TASS

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Wildfires in Siberia, Far East shrink to 2.4 mln hectares

YAKUTSK, August 5. /TASS/. A total area of wildfires raging in Siberia’s Yakutia (Sakha) Republic has dropped from 1.2 million hectares to 920,000 hectares over the past 24 hours, the Emergencies Ministry Main Directorate for the region issued a statement on Monday.

"According to the Forest Protection Service Department, there are currently 101 active forest fires in the Republic of Sakha covering an area of 919,696 hectares," the statement reads.

In a special operation to curb the wildfires in Russia’s Yakutia, two Beriev Be-200 amphibious aircraft and two Mil Mi-8 helicopters dropped a total amount of up to 190 tons of water over the affected areas in the past 24 hours.

According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, there are currently 70 residential areas in 12 districts of Yakutia affected by smoke caused by wildfires. Heavy smoke was reported to surround the city of Yakutsk on Monday morning, despite the rainy weekend.

The dry and windy weather brought heavy smoke accumulating over the Verkhoyansk Region, in the north of Yakutia, where some 325,000 hectares of forests are currently burning.

"The wind brought smoke to three residential areas," Gavril Chirikov, the head of the district told TASS. "All medical services in the region have reportedly been supplied with special anti-smoke masks, while local organizations were advised to cut work hours short."

Last Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump held a phone conversation, during which the US president offered Russia assistance in fighting forest fires in Siberia.

According to the Kremlin’s press service, Putin expressed sincere gratitude to Trump "for such thoughtful consideration, and for offering help and support." He noted that Russia would accept the offer if needed.

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