Over 13,000 Acres of Forest Destroyed by Wildfires in Russian Far East

KHABAROVSK (Sputnik) – Over 5,300 hectares (13,000 acres) of forest were destroyed by wildfires in the Russian Far East in the past 24 hours, the federal district’s forestry department informs.

“In the past 24 hours there were 16 forest fires active in the [Far East] federal district, eight of them in the Amur Region, seven in Yakutia [Sakha Republic], one in Khabarovsk Territory. The area swept by the blazes was 5,370 hectares [13,270 acres]. The largest [area burnt] – 5,270 [hectares] — was in the Amur Region,” the department said on Thursday morning.

Over 400 people, six aircraft and almost 50 units of equipment are involved in firefighting efforts in the Russian Far East.

At least six wildfires were active in the region as of early Thursday morning – four in Yakutia and two in the Amur Region.

Wildfires have also been threatening Russia’s Siberian Federal District, where a special firefighting regime has been enforced in at least five regions.