The wildfire zone in the Russian Far East grew by nearly 2,000 hectares over the past day, a source at the district forestry department told Itar-Tass on Sunday. Eleven wildfires broke out, and ten were put out, including four in Yakutia. Two small wildfires are burning in the Chukchi autonomous district and the Khabarovsk territory. Some 128 hectares of forests are burning in the Amur region. The wildfire hazard in Yakutia remains high. A Beriyev Be-200 firefighting jet of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry dumped 295 tonnes of water on wildfires in Yakutia on Saturday. In all, 5,541 hectares are burning in the Far East, including 4,036 hectares of forests and 1,302 hectares of other land in Yakutia. More than 700 people and 15 aircraft are putting out the blaze. The firefighting group is the largest in Yakutia, about 550 people from the republic, Khabarovsk, Omsk, Barnaul and Kemerovo. Meanwhile, 48 wildfires are burning on 1,341 hectares in Siberia. Seven wildfires of 1,215 hectares were put out over the day, and another eleven wildfires of 308.5 hectares were confined, a source at the Siberian regional emergency situations center told Itar-Tass on Sunday. The wildfire rate is the highest in the Krasnoyarsk territory and the Irkutsk region. There are 15 taiga fires of 780.7 hectares in the Krasnoyarsk territory, and all of them can be reached from the air only. Thunderstorms are the main cause of the fires. Some 1,046 people with 112 machines are putting out the blaze. "The forest fires do not endanger populated areas," the center said.
