YEKATERINBURG, May 8. /TASS/. More than 54,100 hectares of forests are burning in the Sverdlovsk region. More than 4,800 specialists are working to extinguish natural fires, the region’s information policy department reported on Monday.

According to the latest data, at the end of the day on May 6, the area of forest fires in the Sverdlovsk region was more than 33,000 hectares. A group of specialists fighting fires included 2,500 people.

"According to data as of 09:00 (07:00 Moscow time) 4,807 specialists are working to eliminate natural fires in the Sverdlovsk region. Ten fires on an area of more than four thousand hectares have been eliminated in the region. In total, in the Middle Urals at 09:00 (07:00 Moscow time) fire has engulfed more than 54,157 hectares of forest - 64 fires are active, 16 of them have been brought under control," the report says.

Earlier, Governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev called the situation with fires in the region critical. In a number of municipalities, a state of emergency has been introduced, residents have been evacuated from settlements.