MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. A state of emergency has been declared in Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don, where a fire has consumed up to 10,000 square meters.
The number of people injured in a fire has reached 27, the Rostov Region government said in a statement.
"According to the local Health Ministry, 27 people have sought medical attention, including four with burns. Three of them have been hospitalized," the report says. Earlier reports suggested 25 people requested medical assistance.
"There have been no deaths," a representative for the Rostov Region Health Ministry said.
As for now, the firefighters have contained the blazes in six out of nine sectors in the fire-affected area in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, said Igor Oder, the head of the Emergencies Ministry’s Southern Regional Center.
"The fire is being fought in nine sectors, in six sectors the blazes have already been contained," he said.
According to him, the firefighting activity involves more than 400 people and 200 pieces of equipment, including the Emergencies Ministry’s Vyun fireboat and seven helicopters. The ministry’s Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft is expected to arrive in Rostov-on-Don soon.
Oder said that strong winds with gusts of up to 15 meters per second and high-density housing hampered the firefighting activity.
Laboratories collecting and analyzing air samples are active in the fire area. "The emission of harmful substances have not exceeded the maximum allowable concentration," Oder pointed out.
Earlier on Monday, a large fire broke out in Rostov-on-Don’s old town. A fire engulfed 25 buildings, a source in the head office of the Emergencies Ministry’s Rostov regional branch told TASS.