Ude, May 26, SPA -- Practically all woodland fires have been put out in Russia's Siberian Republic of Buryatia. Ten remaining fires cover the area of slightly over 26 hectares, while six fires raging across 48 hectares have been put out in the past 24 hours, sources from the republican department of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations told Itar-Tass on Monday. Early last week, woodland fires were destroying daily up to 15,000 hectares of woodland. Rains, which are scarce in the Baikal region at the end of spring, have helped to extinguish fires. The fact that it is not very hot in Buryatia at the moment, as it normally is at this time of the year, also contributed to the situation. A total of 180 specialists assisted by over 20 units of hardware keep fighting forest fires. An An-2 plane is patrolling the taiga. This spring, 920 woodland fires have been registered in Buryatia. They have damaged or destroyed almost 70,000 hectares of taiga. This is 4.7 times more than during the same period last year.
