The area affected by wildfires raging in Siberia has expanded from 22,036 hectares to 26,055 hectares in the past twenty-four hours, the Emergencies Ministry reported on Sunday.
"There are 137 hotbeds of wildfires on a total area of 26,055 hectares in the Siberian federal district," the ministry said.
Firefighters have localized 39 wildfires on an area of 2,238 hectares in the past twenty-four hours. The cause of forest fires is the activity of local residents, the ministry said.
The most complex situation has been registered in the Irkutsk Region where 110 new hotbeds of wildfires on an area of 4,487 hectares have been detected in the last twenty-four hours, and also in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the ministry said.
Wildfires devastated a number of regions in central Russia last summer, killing 62 people and leaving thousands homeless.
NOVOSIBIRSK, June 5 (RIA Novosti)
