Nearly 40 wildfires put out in Siberia, Far East over past 24 hours

MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/. Thirty-nine hotbeds of wildfires have been extinguished in Siberia and the Far East over the past 24 hours raging on more than 6,600 hectares, and the firefighting effort is continuing, the Emergencies Ministry told TASS on Friday. "According to the Aerial Forest Protection Service, over the past 24 hours 39 hotbeds of wildfires on the area of 6,607 hectares have been put out in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), the Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk Region. A total of 76 hotbeds on 14,200 hectares have been extinguished over the past 24 hours," the ministry said. In the past day, the planes have poured 1,500 tonnes of water on the worst-hit areas across Russia. The Aerial Forest Protection Service reported on Friday that 196 wildfires were blazing on nearly 200,000 hectares across Russia. A land-based air mobile task force consisting of 700 people and 40 pieces of equipment has been established to protect local settlements. Read more