9/7 Tass 29
KHABAROVSK, July 9 (Itar-Tass) — Wildfire area in Russia’s Far East has increased up to 261 hectares in the past 24 hours, a spokesman for the local forestry department told Itar-Tass on Saturday.
“By Saturday morning there were four forest fires on an area of 179 hectares in the republic of Yakutia, one wildfire on an area of 80 hectares in Chukotka, and one minor fire in the Amur region,” the spokesman said.
According to the department’s statistics, a total of 1,344 wildfires on an overall area of more than 456,000 hectares, including 342,800 hectares in forests, have been registered in the Far East since the beginning of this year’ s fire season. Fire destroyed more than 1,360 hectares of forests in nature reserves in the Amur region, the Jewish autonomous region, and in the Khabarovsk territory.