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Russia’s forest fire area reaches 55,600 hectares, forest protection service says

As many as 3,245 people and 628 pieces of equipment are involved in the firefighting effort

MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/. Ninety-nine forest fires on a total area of over 9,000 hectares were extinguished in Russia’s regions in the past 24 hours, work to extinguish blazes on an area of 55,600 hectares is in progress, the Aerial Forest Protection Service reported on Friday.

"According to regional forestry control centers, 99 forest fires on an area of 9,224 hectares were extinguished in Russia in the past 24 hours. As of 00:00 Moscow time on June 18, 67 forest fires on an area of 55,552 hectares were raging in Russia. Work to extinguish them was underway," its press service said.

The largest area of forest fires was recorded in the Irkutsk Region, where three blazes on an area of 33,691 hectares are raging. The largest number of fires (17 on an area of 18,420 hectares) was recorded in Sakha (Yakutia). Fourteen fires on a total area of 1,610 hectares are raging in the Tyumen Region, and three fires on an area of 1,210 hectares are raging in the Magadan Region. Wildfires were also recorded in some other regions, including the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous areas, Kamchatka, Chukotka, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Omsk, Sverdlovsk and Tomsk regions.

As many as 3,245 people and 628 pieces of equipment are involved in the firefighting effort, 66 aircraft are monitoring the situation, another 22 aircraft help to extinguish the fire.