MOSCOW, August 26. /TASS/. The area engulfed by the Ryazan Region’s blazes has widened by 2,600 hectares over the past 24 hours, the emergency services told TASS on Friday.
"The area in flames in the Ryazan Region has increased by 2,600 hectares in 24 hours. Right now, it amounts to almost 17,500 hectares," a source in the emergency services said.
New hot spots in the Ryazan Region near the existing ones point to arson, according to the emergency services. "At first, as it was established, the wildfires in the Ryazan Region were not caused by arson, yet now facts have emerged indicating arson next to the already existing hot spots in the fire zone," the source in the emergency services told TASS.
Firefighters managed to contain the wildfires in the most difficult direction and the situation is completely under control, Acting Governor of the Ryazan Region Pavel Malkov told reporters on Friday.
"The fire has been definitely contained in the most complex direction. So the entire situation can be characterized on the whole as fully under control," the official said. He also added that the current objective is "to follow the plan and finish extinguishing the blaze." That said, according to him, adverse weather conditions in the region persist and heat will remain for several more days.
According to the press service of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry, the firefighters extinguished crown fires in the Ryazan Region. "Thanks to the coordinated actions by air and ground groups, the crown fires have been put out," the agency told TASS on Friday.
According to the agency, there are seven wildfire hot spots in the Ryazan Region, three of them are localized on the area of 150 hectares. The firefighters are focusing on the region’s north where the flames engulfed an 11-kilometer strip of land. Currently, the wildfires are being extinguished by more than 9,600 people using about 2,600 units of equipment, including 18 aircraft. There is no threat to the populated localities or any infrastructure.
The first wildfire in the Ryazan Region erupted on August 7, the second one broke out a day later with the area engulfed by the flames expanding. On August 17, a burning odor and smog caused by the blazes in the region emerged in Moscow and some regions of the Central Federal District. A state of emergency has been declared in the Ryazan Region.