Russia extinguishes forest fires in Far East

All forest fires raging in Russia'sFar East region have been extinguished so far, the regional natural resources and environmental protection department said Wednesday.

The last three fires were extinguished on Tuesday, Itar-Tass news agency cited the department as saying.

Fires raged over a total of 700,000 hectares of taiga, bushes and steppes since the beginning of the warm season this year and about 28,000 hectares of taiga and other areas were burned up.

The department said that damage from the fires is ten times less that last year and it is the first time in 20 years that there are no forest fires in the huge forested region.

Frequent cyclones with heavy rains in the region have contributed much to the firefighting efforts, the department said.

However, the Emergency Situations Ministry said later Wednesdaythat blazes are still rampant on about 43,000 hectares of forests in other areas in Russia, according to Itar-Tass.

The largest fires are registered in the Chita region in the Siberia, covering an area of more than 17,000 hectares.

But the fires posed no threat to local residents and wildlife sanctuaries, said the ministry.

More than 3,000 forest rangers and the local population, along with 28 helicopters and planes, are engaged in putting off the fires, according to the ministry.

Source: Xinhua