MOSCOW, August 25. /TASS/. The area of forest fires in the Ryazan Region that borders with the Moscow Region in the northwest has increased to some 15,000 hectares, emergencies officials told TASS on Thursday.
"The area burnt by wildfires in the Ryazan Region has grown by 3,000 hectares in the past day to some 15,000 hectares. Six wildfires are active, those are posing no threat to localities," a emergencies official said.
On Thursday morning, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko, Russian Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov, Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov and Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin arrived in the Ryazan Region which is facing a tough situation with forest fires.
The first wildfire in the Ryazan Region occurred on August 7, followed by a second a day later, with the area engulfed by the flames expanding ever since. On August 17, the burning smell and smog caused by the blazes in the region were first reported in Moscow and some other regions of the Central Federal District. A state of emergency is in effect in the Ryazan Region.