Forest and peat fires have covered the area of over 52,000 hectares in Russia, the Emergencies Ministry's information department told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. "Over the past 24 hours, 374 new forest fires were registered in Russian regions, 294 of them were put out. Another 282 seats of fire remains hot," the source said. One hundred and fifty-two fires on the area of 25,600 hectares were localized. Forest fires are registered practically in all Russian federal districts. The Emergencies Ministry said 34 new peat fires, including 30 in the Moscow region, emerged over the past 24 hours. From the beginning of the fire hazardous period in Russia 20,780 seats of fire on the total area of 418,000 hectares were registered. Of them 816 are peat fires that covered the area of 724 hectares. A group of 63,000 fire-fighters and 40 helicopters and jets are engaged in the fire-fighting operations. "There is no threat to populated settlements and economic facilities," the ministry said.
