The area affected by wildfires raging in Siberia has expanded by 950 hectares to about 2,000 hectares in the past twenty-four hours, the Emergencies Ministry reported on Sunday.
“There are 92 hotbeds of wildfires on a total area of 1,935.6 hectares in Siberia,” the ministry said.
Firefighters have localized 38 wildfires on an area of 641 hectares in the past twenty-four hours. The cause of forest fires is the activity of local residents, the ministry said.
“Overall, 1,500 people and 366 pieces of equipment have been involved in the fire-fighting effort in the past twenty-four hours,” the ministry said.
Wildfires devastated a number of regions in central Russia last summer, killing 62 people and leaving thousands homeless.
MOSCOW, May 22 (RIA Novosti)