Heavy rains helped to put out forest fires in the Irkutsk Region over the past 24 hour. The number of fires decreased from 82 to 23, but 710 hectares are still burning, the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s regional department told Itar-Tass on Friday.
Thanks to rains, almost all the old fires are extinguished, but 21 new broke out over the past day. Fires are reported in eight municipality areas, most less than 10 kilometres from residential sites.
According to the Irkutsk meteorological centre forecast, hot weather will set in again, and local residents may again go to the taiga to rest or pick cheremsha (wild onion). The regional department for emergencies warns the population not to set fires and not to leave fires unextinguished in forests. The fire prevention measures limiting access of people in forests remain in force in the region.
According to reports from the Tuva Republic, almost all the forest fires were extinguished over the past two days there. Only one outbreak over 1,200 hectares remained in a remote area by Friday morning.
The fires were extinguished by joint operation of forest rangers, parachutists of the Tuva air forest protection service and local authorities, and rains over the past day helped greatly in the work, an officer on duty at the Tuva natural resources ministry told Itar-Tass.
The weather is clear, sunny and warm again in Tuva this Friday, and new fire outbreaks may appear in forests, the officer said. This spring, 105 fires have been reported in the republic. Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Kyzyl on Thursday. He held a meeting in the Tuva department for emergencies on Friday to discuss the problem.
The second wave of forest fires began in the republic because of the hot and dry weather during the May 9-11 Victory celebration days. About 400 people with up to 50 machines fought the fire outbreaks, the number of which reached 20 some days. This year, 13.6 million roubles have been allocated from the federal budget to fight fires in Tuva.
A total of 318 forest fires were reported in the republic last year. The blaze destroyed trees on tens of thousands of hectares.