ULAN-UDE, April 30. /TASS/. The total area engulfed by wildfires in Russia's constituent East-Siberian region of Buryatia has grown twofold to 2,000 hectares since Saturday morning, the press service of the Regional Agency for Forestry said.
"In the morning of Sunday, April 30, some twenty wildfires were blazing and fourteen active hotbeds were located on an area of less than 2,000 hectares, while another six fires were localized on an area of less than 400 ha and their extentinguishing was in the final phase," it said.
Fires covering about 1,000 ha of natural territory were registered in Buryatia's Zaigrayevsky district. Some 265 ha of forests were blazing in the Tunkinsky National Park.
"In the meantime, some fifteen wildfires have been fully extinguished since Saturday morning," the press service said.
Most wildfires typically emerge as consequences of incautious handling of naked flames by local population.
As many as 860 people professional firefitghters and local residetns alike are engaged in the firefighting operations in Buryatia at present.
At the end of last week, the Russian Ministry for Civil Defense and Emergency Situations introduced emergency situation regulations in Eastern Siberia in the wake of a fast spread of wildfires there. Minister Vladimir Puchkov personally left for Siberia to coordinate the operations there.