RYAZAN, August 22. /TASS/. Wildfires in the Ryazan Region are spreading despite all measures, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin told reporters during his visit to the region on Monday.
"Per our colleagues’ request, we sent about 400 people and a rather large number of equipment along with helicopters here, but the fire is becoming more intense. There is a huge number of hotspots along a large area, in addition to crown fires and hard-to-reach places that need to be extinguished," he said.
The mayor assessed the task of tackling the blazes as highly complex and dangerous. That said, he asserted that joint work by the Emergencies Ministry, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and forces from Moscow and the Ryazan Region will soon eradicate the wildfires.
"Unprecedented help from Moscow’s government and enormous resources are involved. The main reason is the highly adverse weather conditions. Unfortunately, there is no rain and it’s not expected, while strong winds and heat remain. Of course, all of this facilitates the spread of the fire," Acting Governor of the Ryazan Region Pavel Malkov said.
The first wildfire in the Ryazan Region occurred on August 7, the second broke out a day later with the area engulfed by the flames expanding. On August 17, the burning smell and smog caused by the blazes in the region emerged in Moscow and some regions of the Central Federal District. "The smog in Moscow will diminish once the fires are extinguished," Sobyanin assured.
Currently, a state of emergency is in effect in the Klepikovsky, Ryazansky and Spassky districts of the Ryazan Region. The area affected by fire amounts to about 8,600 hectares, with 146 hectares currently burning. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry opened a criminal case over the wildfires in the Spassky district. The careless handling of fire is cited as a preliminary cause of the blazes. Currently, the wildfires are being extinguished by 789 people using 221 units of equipment, including 18 aircraft.