MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. Over 6,000 buildings have burned down as a result of forest fires in three regions in the Urals, Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov told President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

"More than 6,000 buildings, including 802 residential ones, have been damaged in the Sverdlovsk, Kurgan and Tyumen Regions, as a result of fires that have spread to 25 populated localities," the minister said.

In the Kurgan Region, the fire destroyed 612 residential buildings, where 2,741 people lived. More than 2,000 of them were evacuated, and 122 people have been given accommodation at temporary shelters. According to the minister, 21 people died and 19 were injured in the fires.

In the Tyumen Region, 30 houses burned down, where 147 people lived. No casualties have been reported. Wildfires pose no threat to populated localities in those regions at the moment.

Fire season has begun in almost all of Russia’s regions.