Altaisk, May 19, SPA -- Rains have helped in putting out woodland fires in Russia's Altai Republic, reducing the affected areas from 350 hectares on Saturday to 60 hectares on Monday, the deputy head of the Altai aviation forest protection base, Andrei Golovnyov, told Itar-Tass. The second wave of woodland fires, triggered by a heat wave, began in Altai mountains on May 8-9. Day temperatures reached 29 degrees Celsius, sometimes climbing to plus 33 degrees. A fire emergency was declared in nine out of ten regions of the republic. According to early estimates, 112 forest fires, fixed since the beginning of spring, have caused the damage of over ten million roubles.
