MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. The territory engulfed by wildfires in Russia has shrunk to a third of its size, from 279 hectares to 88 hectares in the past twenty-four hours, the Aerial Forest Protection Service Avialesokhrana reported on Thursday.

"As of midnight Moscow time on September 8, a total of 12 forest fires were active in Russia on an area of 88 hectares," the service said in a statement.

Almost all of them are fixed in the Siberian Krasnoyarsk region where wildfires are raging on an area of 76 hectares.

A total of 351 people have been involved in the fire-fighting effort in the past twenty-four hours. They managed to cope with wildfires on an area of 463 hectares while 266 hectares of forests were burnt out.

A fire season has been declared in 80 Russian regions.